Survivalism (Rewritten)
by hannahhh15
Summary: This is the original Survivalism story of exchange student Eilidh Wilson-REWRITTEN WITH CHANGES MADE Eilidh makes the move to Atlanta to study but with the world having suddenly fallen that plan is shattered, just trying to survive she meets a group of people that she'd do anything for, a crossbow wielding man in particular. Please give it a chance and feel free to Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc. **

**The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

 _This is the original Survivalism fanfic that I wrote years ago although I have rewritten it and made some changes._  
 _I will be updating this story as regularly as I can and also on depending how well liked it is.  
I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope that I don't disappoint. :)_

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With her back against the wall Eilidh stared at the remainder of her food that was laid out on the floor infront of her, it consisted of a partially eaten chocolate bar, a bashed tin of corn and another tin that had fruit in it, with a dejected sigh she put the items back inside her rucksack and zipped it closed.

She leaned her head back to look at the ceiling, it had been a week now that she had been stuck in this room, this small room that couldn't have been much bigger than a prison cell, it even slightly resembled a prison cell it was that dull and bare looking but it was however an office of sorts and not a cell, although, 'whose' office was unclear, what was clear was that they, whoever they were, had someone that cared about them as there was a coaster on the desk of a frog dressed in business attire that said 'Congrats on your New Job!'.

She had been chased into the building by a bunch of walkers that she had ran into whilst she was moving through the city, there were too many for her to handle herself so she had no choice but to run inside the nearest unlocked door she could find and she continued until she came across the little office that had become her temporary home.

She had passed a few other bigger offices as she escaped the horde that was following her but they weren't suitable as mostly all of them had wide glass windows and she knew the walkers would never have left her alone if they saw her inside.

It had been an extremely close call getting inside that room, she had charged in rather clumsily and slammed the door loudly behind her but she wasted no time in yanking the desk towards her so she could shove it against the door, the walkers that had followed her had appeared seconds after she had and were throwing their weight against the closed door, fortunately she had managed to get the desk against it before they did this and it was heavy enough to prevent the dead from forcing it open.

The walkers had continued banging against the door for the remainder of that day and Eilidh had sat in silence for hours with her feet against the edge of the desk and her eyes on the door incase the walkers somehow managed to get inside, she knew that they couldn't though as after a long while the banging gradually stopped and the moans grew faint but keeping her feet firmly against the desk kept her mind at ease, she also didn't sleep that first night.

There was a fire escape right outside the window of the office, she had never been able to use it as there were always too many walkers wandering in the alleyway below but today had to be the day, regardless of the dead below, she had to try.

She had attempted to leave the way she had entered after staying put for a couple days, having heard no noise from the walkers outside the door she removed the desk as quietly as possible and opened the door but once she stepped out the walkers appeared instantly and tried to grab her, she had to repeat the whole first day she had spent in the office all over again.

No, today had to be the day, she needed supplies and she wasn't going to get them by staying where she was, she had to use the fire escape and move on or die trying.

She gathered her things quickly and stood up, she readied her gun for use and gripped her knife, she then moved towards the window and opened it quietly before climbing out, the alleyway was filled with walkers as it usually was and she was suddenly filled with dread, there was an identical fire escape directly across from the one she was on, she had to use it to get to the roof, it wasn't safe to travel on the ground in the city.

She would have to do this fast.

She shook her head and leaned on the railing, she was to weak to do this fast and with the two bags she was carrying she was about 28 pounds heavier than usual, she rubbed her forehead and then sat on the window ledge, time for a new plan.

As she sat there thinking of what to do her ears picked up a feint noise, she looked to the left and tons of walkers were suddenly moving in the same direction, the walkers below her in the alley also began to move towards the horde that was stumbling quickly to somewhere Eilidh couldn't see, she stood up quickly and waited until the walkers were near the end of the alley before she made her next move.

She climbed down the ladder as quickly as she could and hurried across to the other fire escape, she glanced over her shoulder briefly before climbing up the ladder, when she was safely on the ledge she looked back at the horde and saw that they were still moving and hadn't noticed her at all so she didn't hang around, she moved up the stairs that led to the roof and when she reached it she let out a sigh of relief, she was out of the office, finally.

She smiled and began to adjust the straps of her bags but it quickly vanished and the blood drained from her face when she heard what was clearly a horse neighing followed by gunshots, bang, bang, bang.

Instinctively she pulled out her own gun and then ducked down, the shots weren't anywhere remotely close to her but she could hear them echoing in the direction the horde had been moving and that wasn't very far from where she was.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then gasped when the gunshots fired again, who the hell would be stupid enough to fire a gun in the middle of the city, she looked in the direction the shots were firing and then to the right, she could go, now, while the walkers were distracted in the opposite direction and put some distance between herself and them, it would be easy and sure she may come across some here and there but they would be easily dealt with and the shots would draw most of them away anyway, yet...she was still crouched in the same spot, why was she still crouched in the same spot she thought with a groan.

Someone could be needing help, noone with sense would fire a gun in the city not unless they had no way out and Eilidh hadn't heard any screaming yet to confirm that, she thought for a long moment on what to do before groaning loudly and standing up, it was worth checking out so she broke into a run in the direction of the gunshots that fired once again.

There was a burning protest in her lungs as she ran but she refused to stop, she could see her destination across the rooftop; the ladder that further lead to the top of the building.

With energy that she didn't realise she still had she pushed herself on and sprinted the rest of the short distance until she was stood at the bottom of the ladder.

Breathing rapidly she glanced quickly upwards before grabbing onto the bars, she then began to haul her weary body up, a rather challenging task as she had her duffel bag on her shoulder across her body and her rucksack over the top of that on her back.

When she finally reached the top she leaned against the railing of the ladder for support, only for a second so she could take a breath though because she then immediately took off running again in the direction the gunshots were coming from and she almost tripped as she did.

She skidded to a halt when she saw an Asian guy suddenly appear from a hatch in the roof, he quickly climbed out and closed the door behind him.

She instantly aimed her gun at his back whilst steadying her frantic breathing as she waited on him to turn around, when he did he jumped and reached behind him.

"Don't move." She told him through hard breaths, his hands shot up in surrender, "Give me it."

"What?" the guy asked nervously.

"The gun." She said.

"I don't have a gun." He replied and she gave him a sceptical look, "No I swear!" he said and reached behind him again but stopped when she shook her hands with her gun at him, he put his hands up again, "I don't have a gun, really. It's my walkie!"

She stared at him for a moment, trying to study his face to see if he was lying and he turned his back to her, "Look." he said.

She slowly stepped towards him until the gun touched his back making him tense up.

The walkie he was talking about was sticking out the back of his jeans, she took a step back, "Drop you pack…slowly." She told him and he did, she crouched, grabbed the bag then she swiftly stepped back further with her gun still aimed at him.

She pulled the zip open in a rush to look in his pack; it was difficult with just the one hand since she still had her gun aimed at him so the task was rather clumsy also he had turned back around to face her causing her to feel pressure under his gaze.

She saw the bag had a bottle of water, a hatchet and a hoodie inside, no gun.

She dropped the bag next to her feet and lowered her gun a little; she looked at him over it, "What's your name?"

"Glenn." He said after a moment of hesitation, his eyes moving from her gun to her face.

"What's your hurry Glenn?" she asked.

"Those gunshots…I'm heading to check out what's going on, someone could need help." He said and lowered his hands some more.

"Are you alone?" she asked as she glanced at the hole he came from, he shook his head.

"I'm with a group; we came here to do a supply run in the department store," he said and glanced over his shoulder at one of the buildings, "It was supposed to be a quick in and out run but...we're kind of stuck in there now." He added with a sigh and looked at her once more.

"Because of those shots." She said in response, it wasn't a question, he nodded.

She stared at him for a brief moment with her gun still aimed at him, "You aren't stuck anymore, you could go, right now."

He frowned at her, "I'm not going to just leave them behind."

"Most people would." she said.

"I'm not most people." he replied instantly, "...and they're my friends."

She thought hard about what he had said as she stared at him for what seamed like the longest time before she eventually lowered her gun completely so it was at her side and he seamed to visibly relax, "You said you were on a supply run."

"That's right." he said with a nod of his head.

"So you're part of a bigger group somewhere?" she asked after a beat.

"Yeah, our camp isn't too far from here." he replied after a brief delay.

She nodded with what she hoped was a nonchalant expression, "I think I heard a horse." she said and indicated with her head to the edge of the roof before she took a step towards it.

He waited before taking a step also, "Can you see from there?"

"No...how about we move forward and look together?" she said.

He didn't respond, he only watched her closely with an uncertain look on his face, obviously he was scared incase she pointed her gun at him again, she rolled her eyes and reluctantly put her weapon away in the back of her jeans.

He relaxed some more before moving swiftly towards the edge of the roof to look over, she began to follow but stopped when she saw him recoil, "What is it?" she asked him anxiously, the last thing she wanted to see was some poor soul being ripped to pieces.

"There's a LOT of walkers down there." he replied with a shake of his head and she noticed that he'd gone white all of a sudden, she picked up his pack and walked towards him.

"Here." she said and handed him the bag, he thanked her and then put it on his back.

"They seam to be heading up that way." He said and began to move along the rooftop, "Come on."

She stayed where she was with her brows furrowed, "Seriously?"

"Yeah." he told her as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she tilted her head to the side a little before moving in his direction, she then quickly broke into a run and he copied her movements so they were jogging side by side.

"After the whole gun thing, you don't mind me coming?" she said to him.

"We're strangers, I don't blame you for being careful." He replied.

She nodded and kept moving with him, "What's your name?" he asked.

"Eilidh." She said.

"Nice to meet you." he said and grinned at her, she almost laughed.

"I'm sure it is after pulling a gun on you." she replied.

"Like I said…you were being cautious, nothing wrong with that, watch yourself going across this." He said as they approached a makeshift bridge across to the other building.

"You're not from around here." he said, "Do you have a group somewhere?" he then asked her and she shook her head as she followed him across, they jogged on along the roof to edge of the rooftop.

"No and it's just me, has been for months." She told him.

"Man…that sucks." He said as they approached the edge of the roof.

She knew she wasn't wrong about the horse, she heard it again but this time it sounded more agitated than it had before.

Glenn looked over the edge of the rooftop first and immediately stepped back, "What?" Eilidh asked as she approached him, he held a palm up to stop her.

"If you're squeamish like me…you don't want to look down there." He told her and exhaled a long breath.

She moved forward anyway so she could look, ignoring the warning and she instantly wished she hadn't.

There was a horse and the walkers were devouring it, the poor thing was still alive, there were hundreds fighting over it.

"Man that's disgusting." She heard Glenn say beside her and she opened her eyes that she had briefly closed, she looked at the ground again and saw that there were other walkers crawling under the abandoned army tank that was next to the animal.

"I think it's owner might be underneath the tank." She said and Glenn looked back over the edge.

"Well...they're done for." He said glumly.

"…No...we would have heard screams would we not?" she asked and his brows furrowed.

"Probably?" he said, "Can you get inside a tank from underneath it?"

"I don't know." She said and scratched her eyebrow.

Just then a single gunshot fired and it was much louder than before, it seamed to echo everywhere, "What the-" Glenn said and looked around quickly.

"That came from inside the tank." Eilidh gasped.

"…are you sure?" Glenn asked.

"Yes. Look, the hatch is open." She said and pointed to it.

"You're right…so…they made it?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe…maybe not." She said and they exchanged a look.

They then stared at the top of the tank, some walkers had begun climbing up onto it at the sound of the gunshot, Eilidh glanced at the now silenced horse but all she could see were the backs of the greedy walkers feeding on it.

"Oh! Look!" Glenn brought her attention back to the tank, a man was peeking his head out of the top of it, "He made it." there was shock and relief in his voice.

The walkers around the tank that weren't preoccupied by the horse noticed him and began climbing to get to him; he ducked back inside and closed the hatch behind him.

Eilidh looked at Glenn, "We have to help him." he said immediately.

"What?" she asked, thrown by his answer, "How do we help him? There's no way we can get to him to help without getting killed ourselves."

"We can't leave him in there to die." He protested, "Anyone with common sense knows not to fire guns in the city right…so, he must not be from here...right?"

"That doesn't matter; if he's still alive since this started then he's been surviving like everyone else therefore he's bound to understand by now that they are attracted by noise?" she said.

"I…I don't know. God! I can't just walk away…there must be something we can do." Glenn said with a frustrated sigh.

"I don't think we can…he's closed the hatch so we can't shout down to him even if we were stupid enough to do that." She said with her hands on her hips.

They were both silent for a moment, trying to figure out what to do until Eilidh had an idea, "Unless…your walkie…there should be a radio in that tank right?" she asked, he nodded slowly as if he was unsure, "We should be able to radio down there...no?"

"I…I think so." He said and brought his walkie out the back of his jeans.

"Wait." She halted him, "We need a plan first…if we do manage to contact him…then what?"

Glenn thought about it for a second and then his expression changed like a light bulb just flashed above his head, "There's an alley just around the corner there." He said and pointed across the roof over his shoulder, "Down there…that ladder takes you down, those gunshots brought almost every geek around out from where they are."

"Right." Eilidh said and gestured with her head for him to continue.

"That alley should be clear." He added and her mouth slowly opened.

"…you're not serious...you want to go down there?" she asked shocked.

"Don't look at me like that it's making me doubt my plan." He told her.

"Yeah, that's the idea. Your plan is crazy." She told him matter of factly.

"No it's not, look." He said and pointed at the horse, "Most of them are surrounding the horse yeah? Or heading that way and there's not as many on the other side, if I manage to contact this guy, I can direct him to the alley, meet him there and bring him up here."

Eilidh stared at him still in shock, "Glenn…this is…I...I'm only about forty percent confident this plan will work." she said.

"Yeah? Well…I'm sixty?" He said a little nervously and he answered in the form of a question which made Eilidh's uneasiness increase.

"You'd risk your life for a stranger? He could be anyone." She said.

"Like I said…I can't just leave him in there to die." He replied with a sigh, "And…your right he could be anyone…but he's just one person, there are more of us than him if he tries anything."

"You don't know that, he could have others somewhere close…I've seen that sort of thing happen before." She said and instinctively grabbed her forearm which she proceeded to squeeze, a habit that appeared whenever she was nervous or scared.

"There's a lot of what if's I know…but lets cross those bridges when we come to them." He said with a shrug.

Eilidh was sure the guy in the tank was alone but she wasn't going to let her guard down, there were too many liars these days, trust was limited, she didn't even fully trust Glenn yet but so far he hadn't given off any bad vibes.

"Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" she asked him.

"Yeah…I have to." He said.

"…okay." She said after a beat with a quick simple nod.

He returned the nod and pressed the walkie on, "Hey…dumbass." He spoke into it, Eilidh's mouth twitched at his choice of words, there was no response, "You in the tank." He added but there was still no response.

He glanced at Eilidh and she moved to look down at the tank once more to see if the guy inside had maybe opened the hatch and jumped out or something, but it was still closed with walkers banging on the top of it, she shrugged at him and moved so she was back infront of him.

"Hey, you alive in there?!" Glenn asked more urgently, he and Eilidh stared at the walkie for a few seconds and it eventually crackled.

"Hel…Hello?!" The voice replied, slight disbelief in the tone.

Eilidh and Glenn sighed in relief, "You talk him through the plan, I'm going to have a quick look down the side where the entrance to the alley is." She said, he nodded and she jogged off down the roof to the edge holding her duffel at her hip and she heard Glenn explaining to the man what he was planning to do as she went.

Once she reached the edge of the roof she looked over, there were a lot of walkers wandering in the street, some heading towards the tank but there wasn't near as many as what was crowding around it.

"Eilidh." Glenn said from across the roof and pointed to the opposite side, she jogged towards it along with him.

"So?" she asked as he put the walkie in the back of his jeans.

"Down here." He said and began climbing down the ladder to the alley quickly, she took her duffel off and left it at the top of the roof then she followed behind him, "I told him the plan, told him to wait a minute so I could get down there…as for the result…keep your fingers crossed for me yeah?" he said as he stepped off the ladder onto the fire escape ledge.

"Um…I'm not coming?" she asked once she was stood next to him, he shook his head, "Glenn…I can watch your back."

"No…you wait here, I'll be right back, I'm quick." He told her as he adjusted his rucksack on his back.

"So am I." she said and he gave her a look, she rolled her eyes as he moved towards the ladder.

"Oh." He said and stopped, he turned around to face her once more, "If I don't make it back…that hatch I came out of where we met…climb down there, go through the building out into another alley…that's where the department store is, go through the side door and you'll meet my people…okay?" He said.

She stared at him in disbelief, even after pointing her gun at him when they met he was telling her where to go incase he didn't make it back because he knew she was alone, she simply nodded in response as she wasn't really sure what to say.

She wasn't sure what to make of what she was feeling, an intense happiness overwhelmed her.

The people she'd come across since the dead started walking had all turned out to be either liars, thieves, crazy, murderers or something else, but Glenn wasn't like any of them, he was different.

"Be careful." She told him intently, it was almost a threat.

"Always am." he said and then he began to climb down the alleyway ladder.

Once he reached the bottom he looked up at her and gave her a brisk nod, she had no time to return it because he was off, jogging towards the gate at the far end of the alleyway, she was frozen with fear.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

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Gunshots started to echo through the streets, Eilidh saw Glenn's body jolt at the sound before he picked up the pace and sprinted the rest of the distance to the gate.

She watched from the top of the fire escape ledge with her arms folded across her chest and biting her lip nervously.

Even though she had just met Glenn she didn't want anything bad to happen, she wanted him to be safe. There was something about him, he had an extremely likeable quality to him and there was also the fact that he was the first stranger she'd met in months that wasn't interested in looting from her.

Or worse.

She gasped and dropped her arms to her sides when the stranger suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alleyway with his gun pointed in Glenn's face, from where she was stood she could see that he seamed to be dressed in some sort of uniform, he immediately dropped his weapon to his side when he saw Glenn and rushed through the gate.

"Faster!" Glenn shouted at the man whilst running back towards where she was and the man followed without hesitation but he also turned, whilst running, to shoot some walkers that were following them, it seamed like the entire horde from the streets had chased after them moaning and snarling, they just kept piling into the alleyway.

"Come on! Come on!" Glenn urged the man.

Eilidh leaned forward on the railing as Glenn appeared at the bottom and started climbing up; the officer stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked back at the approaching horde.

"What are you doing?! Come on!" Glenn half screamed at him when he was almost at the top of the ladder, the man began climbing up and literally just missed being grabbed.

Eilidh let out the breath she had been holding in, "Are you okay?" She asked Glenn once he was safe and stood next to her; he nodded at her and turned to give the man a hand up.

"Come on, get up." he said to him.

They both hunched over with their hands on their knees to get their breath back, Eilidh looked down at the walkers that were just a few feet below them, there had to be at least a hundred or more and they were all snarling and growling at them, she rubbed the back of her neck roughly and then looked at Glenn, "That was bloody close Glenn."

Glenn nodded at her with a grin and then looked at the man, "Nice moves there Clint Eastwood…you the new sheriff? Come riding in to clean up the town?" he asked him through ragged breaths as he stood up and rested his arms on the railing.

"It wasn't my intention." the stranger replied.

"Yeah, whatever…yee-haw…your still a dumbass." Glenn stated.

"Rick…thanks." The man said after a beat and held out his hand.

Glenn looked at him briefly then shook his hand, "Glenn…you're welcome…this is Eilidh." he said introducing her, Rick gave her a nod which she returned; he then took his gun from his holster and put it in Glenn's bag.

"Oh no." Glenn said looking down at the walkers; one was holing onto the ladder at the bottom and it looked as if it was trying to climb up but hadn't figured out how yet.

"We should move guys." Eilidh said and began climbing up the ladder heading towards the safety of the roof.

"Yeah." Glenn agreed and stood at the bottom of it as she climbed up.

"Bright side…it'll be the fall that kills us…I'm a glass half full kinda guy." he said and began climbing with Rick at his heels.

Once the three reached the top Eilidh grabbed her things and she and Glenn started moving across the roof with Rick following them, "We should cross this one at a time, you go first Eilidh." Glenn told her as she headed towards the makeshift bridge.

"Hey Glenn, was it you that barricaded the alley?" Rick asked him as Eilidh cautiously moved across to the other building.

"Somebody did, I guess when the city was overrun, whoever did it was thinking, not many geeks get through." He replied as they crossed over to beside Eilidh, she headed towards the hatch Glenn appeared from earlier and pulled it open.

"Back at the tank why did you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked him.

"Call it foolish naïve hope…that if I'm ever that far up shit creek somebody might do the same for me…guess that makes me even more of a dumbass than you." He said in response and began climbing down the ladder, Rick let Eilidh go before him and then followed her down into the darkness.

Once at the bottom the three of them jogged through an office and out of a fire exit door which headed down into the other alley way Glenn had mentioned, "I'm back, got a couple guests with me plus 4 geeks in the ally!" Glenn said into his walkie-talkie.

They stopped on the stairs behind Glenn, two walkers nearest them spotted them and headed their way, just then two people in body armour with baseball ball bats came running out a building door and began taking down the walkers

"Let's go!" Glenn shouted and they ran for the door, soon followed by the two masked men.

"Thanks you guys, Morales...T-Dog." Glenn said whilst catching his breath to each of the men that had just been beating the crap out of the walkers outside once they were safely inside the building with the door closed, both men gave him a nod.

Eilidh was about to thank them too when a blonde woman appeared and grabbed Rick by the shirt, she pushed him up against some boxes and put a gun in his face.

"Son of a bitch, we ought to kill you!" She said to him through gritted teeth.

Glenn took a step back and watched what was happening nervously, Eilidh looked from him to the woman and waited for him or anyone else to say or do something but noone did so she herself stepped towards the woman, "Hey." she said in a firm voice, deciding herself to intervene.

"Just chill out Andrea." the man who was named Morales said as he removed the body armour he was wearing.

"Back off." Eilidh continued, this time more sternly as she moved closer to stand next to Rick.

Andrea glanced at her briefly, ignored her and then turned her attention back to Rick where she moved the gun and pressed it hard against his forehead.

Without fully thinking Eilidh pulled her own gun free and pointed it at the blonde's own head, shouts of protest came from everyone that was watching the scene.

"I said...back the hell off." Eilidh warned her.

She had Andrea's full attention now, the woman glared at her and then demanded, "And just who the hell are you?!"

"Why doesn't everyone just ease up?" A woman to the side of Andrea encouraged, "Come on Andrea."

"Ease up? You have to be joking?! We're dead because of this stupid asshole." Andrea snapped in return and looked back at Rick.

"Andrea…I said cool it." Morales said to her and walked towards them to stand beside Eilidh, "You aswell." he told her but all she gave him was a brief glance in acknowledgement.

Andrea stood staring at Rick for a long moment, unmoving.

"Pull the trigger then." Morales added.

This time she dropped the gun and shook her head at Rick, "We're all dead and it's your fault." she said through sobs.

Eilidh couldn't help but roll her eyes as she dropped her own gun to her side, she felt like telling the blonde to stop being so dramatic but instead turned to Glenn and asked, "What's wrong with using the door that we just came in?"

"I don't understand." Rick said after a beat in response to Andrea and looked around the group confused, Glenn had been about to answer Eilidh but then Morales grabbed Rick by the arm and began to drag him through a door leading further into the building.

"Take it easy!" Eilidh snapped at Morales as he moved away from them with Rick, the rest of the group moved closely behind him including Glenn who looked at Eilidh as he moved.

"The walkers surrounding us are blocking where our van is parked, that's why we can't leave through that door." he told her quickly and ushered her to follow him.

She put her gun away and did just that, she had to jog a little to catch up with the others and when she did she heard Morales up ahead explaining something to Rick about surviving, he was also clearly very bitter that they were stuck in the store.

She slowed to a halt and looked around the place, she hadn't been in this store before, she never usually scavenged in buildings that were accessed on the ground, she always stuck to places she could reach via the rooftops.

She spotted rails of woman's clothing to her left and looked at them briefly before glancing down at her own attire, what she was wearing was in desperate need of a good wash or rather, replacement, when she began to walk again she ended up accidentally walking into Glenn as she was preoccupied with checking out her holey jeans that used to fit her but were now, even with a belt, hanging off of her loosely, he jumped and spun around at the contact and sighed when he saw it was only her.

"Sorry." She mouthed to him and followed the now silent group's gaze; their eyes were on the entrance of the store where there was a large group of walkers pounding on the outside doors trying to get through.

"Every geek for miles around heard you pumping off rounds." The man named T-Dog snapped in annoyance at Rick.

"You just rang the damn dinner bell." Andrea added.

"Understand now?" Morales asked him.

Eilidh looked at Rick and saw that he genuinely looked as if he'd just realised what he'd done wrong.

"Oh god." Andrea gasped as one of the walkers began to bang on the doors with a rock and managed to leave a crack; Eilidh pulled her gun from the back of her jeans instinctively and aimed towards the entrance as the rest of the group moved further back into the store.

"What the hell were you doing?" Eilidh heard Andrea asked Rick from behind her, she stared at the crack in the glass over her weapon with a pounding heart, that wont hold for long.

"I was trying to flag the helicopter." Rick replied.

Eilidh's eyes widened at the officer's words and she lowered her gun and turned to look at him, Glenn caught her eye and they both exchanged a confused look.

Helicopter? There was no helicopter.

"There ain't no damn helicopter." T-Dog said with a shake of his head.

"You must have been imagining it, it happens." the other woman said to him.

"I saw it." he replied firmly.

"Hey T-Dog, try that CB, can you contact the others?" Morales asked.

"Others? What, the refugee centre?" Rick asked them.

"Yeah the refugee centre, they've got biscuits waiting in the oven for us." The woman next to Andrea said sarcastically and Eilidh looked at Rick, where had he been this whole time? He has been believing all this time that there is help out there, he looked across at her questioningly and she shook her head lightly in response.

"There's no signal, maybe the roof?" T-Dog answered after fiddling with the radio in his hand.

A loud gunshot from above startled them all and at once Eilidh brought her gun up infront of her again, she looked around the place quickly and then at the store doorway, that shot had riled the walkers up more.

"Is that Dixon?" Andrea moaned.

"What is that maniac doing?!" the other woman asked as the group raced for the stairs leading to the roof, Glenn looked at Eilidh and Rick who were stood watching him, "Come on, let's go." He said to them and rushed off infront.

As they all ran up the steps to the roof they heard more gunshots, each received a groan from the other survivors.

"Hey Dixon are you crazy?" Eilidh heard one of the men shout as they burst through the rooftop door.

When Eilidh walked out onto the roof she saw a man was stood on the ledge with a rifle pointing down into the street, he turned around to face them all when he realised he was no longer alone, he was the typical redneck biker stereotype.

He swayed slightly as he laughed at them, he waved the gun around, "Hey! You ought to be more polite to a man with a gun! Only common sense." he said and then he jumped down from the ledge and walked towards them.

"You're wasting bullets that we ain't even got! We've got geeks all around us, man just chill!" T-Dog shouted at the man.

"Hey, it's bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day, now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro, that'll be the day." The man they called Dixon replied.

Everyone else stood around watching the scene play out in silence, Eilidh was stood beside Glenn out of the way, she had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

"That'll be the day? What, have you got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog asked defensively.

Morales spoke quickly, "Hey T-Dog man, just leave it, it ain't worth it."

T-Dog held his hand up to him, "No."

"Now, Merle, just relax okay? We've got enough trouble." Morales tried some more to calm things.

Rick looked at Glenn who shook his head indicating him not to get involved; Eilidh took her rucksack and duffel bag off and set them on the ground next to her feet, she sighed in relief that the extra weight on her was finally gone.

"You want to know the day?" Merle asked T-Dog, bringing Eilidh's attention back to the two men.

"Yeah." T-Dog replied instantly.

"I'll tell you the day, Mr 'Yo'…It's the day that I take orders from a nigger." Merle said and grinned.

T-Dog threw his fist towards Merle, "Mother-" he began to say but was silenced when Merle hit him in the face with his rifle knocking him on his back, everyone seamed to move at the same time after that.

Rick moved towards Merle who turned around and punched him knocking him down aswell next to Eilidh's feet, Glenn rushed over to the side where the others were as they shouted at Merle to stop as he had begun kicking and punching T-Dog on the ground before he pulled his pistol out and put it in T-Dog's face.

The group gasped in shock and pleaded with him not to pull the trigger and after what seamed like forever, he eventually spat on T-Dog and stood up.

Everyone had began to help T-Dog to sit up except Eilidh who was behind Merle seeing if Rick was okay, she helped him to his feet as he held his face, briefly stunned by the blow.

"Yeah, alright, we're gonna have ourselves a little pow-wow, huh? We'll talk about who's in charge…I vote me, anybody else? Democracy time y'all, show of hands, come on let's see them." Merle said raising his hand.

"Oh come on." Andrea sighed.

Rick held the hand that was resting on Eilidh's shoulder up to her signifying that he was okay and then waved her over to the side out of the way, he pointed to Merle by way of explanation; she nodded and moved to the side.

"All in favour?" Merle pressed as he pointed his gun at the others who had no choice but to raise their hands.

"Yeah, that's good, now this means I'm the boss right? Yeah, anybody else? Hmm, anybody?" he asked again, Ricks voice came from behind him.

"Yeah."

Merle turned and was met in the face by the rifle he had dropped, he was knocked to the ground.

Rick grabbed him and handcuffed his arm to a piece of pipe.

"Who the hell are you man?" Merle shouted in frustration.

"Officer Friendly." Rick said immediately and turned to pick up the gun.

Eilidh moved towards the others as they helped T-Dog to his feet, she offered to lend a hand and she Glenn and the two women pulled him up and leaned him against the edge of the roof.

"Okay?" she asked T-Dog as the other woman used something to wipe the cut on his mouth, he nodded.

Everyone's attention snapped to Rick when the heard a gun cocking, he had it against Merle's head, "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun, only common sense." He said repeating what Merle had said before causing the man to smile.

"You wouldn't, you're a cop." He said.

"All I am any more is a man looking for his wife and son, anybody that gets in the way of that's gonna lose." Rick whispered threateningly, "Now I'll give you a moment to think about that." He added and began checking Merle's pockets, he brought out a small bag of white powder and studied it for a moment before he said, "You got some on your nose there." He flicked Merle's nose and stood up.

"What you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle asked laughing then stopped when he saw Rick throw the bag off the roof, "Hey! What are you doing? Man, that's my stuff! Hey! If I get loose you better prey! Yeah, you hear me, you pig? You hear me?!" He shouted at him.

Rick walked off past Eilidh and she heard him murmur, "Yeah your voice carries."

She walked over and stood beside him and the Mexican man Morales at the edge of the roof.

"You're not Atlanta PD, where you from?" He asked Rick.

"Up the road a ways." Rick answered.

Morales nodded, "What about you?" he asked Eilidh.

"I just moved here from Scotland." She said and he looked at her with raised eyebrows after hearing her strong accent properly for the first time, "Well then…welcome to the big city." he told them both.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

* * *

"Look man, don't beat yourself up about it...Merle getting left behind." Eilidh heard Morales tell Rick from where she sat behind him, the others in the back of the van also heard him, she looked at each of them and when she made eye contact with T-Dog he instantly looked away with a guilty expression on his face, "Believe me, no one will be sad that he didn't come back…..well, maybe Daryl." Morales continued.

"Who's Daryl?" Rick asked and Eilidh turned her head to the side to look back at Morales and waited for him to answer.

"His brother." Morales replied after a beat of silence.

Eilidh stared at Morales for a long time before turning her head to look at her feet, she shook her head and whispered, "Shit."

Merle had a brother back at the camp, a family member, somebody that, despite his personality, probably really cares about him.

Now she felt even more terrible than she already was.

The group had barely made it out of Atlanta after Rick and Glenn had gone to distract the walkers and Merle got left behind on the rooftop in the process.

The group had ran off without even looking back at Merle as he begged them to free him, Eilidh had remained where she stood unable to go, despite what the man had done they couldn't just leave him behind, they would have been as well as just killing him themselves.

She quickly ran to help him and shouted to T-Dog the only one of the group that had stayed behind also to throw her the key and that she'd let Merle out but he refused, he had been desperately urging her to follow him since the others disappeared but she wouldn't, she had demanded the key again by telling him they were running out of time but he still didn't give her it, instead he gave her his pack and practically shoved her towards the door assuring her that he'd do it, that both men would meet her and the others at the van and after hesitating briefly she eventually had done as he said and went.

However...T-Dog was alone when they had all climbed into the van; he'd dropped the key down a drain by accident as he was running towards Merle.

An alarm in the distance could suddenly be heard and it got louder and louder until it was blaring right behind their van, everyone including Eilidh moved to look in the door mirrors to see what it was and it turned out it was Glenn, he was driving next to them in the car he used to draw the walkers away, he was whooping loudly to them.

"At least somebody's having a good day." Morales said to Rick with a smile and then he looked over his shoulder at them, they returned it, Andrea and the other woman even laughed but Eilidh neither smiled nor laughed, she watched Glenn speed off infront of them with a blank face before she sat back down to lean once more against the back of Rick's seat.

She was glad Glenn was alright and even more glad that she was finally on the road away from the city but Merle was still there up on that roof, and he would probably be dead before too long.

Rick had been originally following Glenn but he had zoomed off ahead of them in his car leaving them in his dust before too long, Morales instructed Rick where to go though and they ended up driving up a steep hill that overlooked a large quarry.

When he stopped the van Eilidh turned and sat up on her knees, she stared over his shoulder out the front window at the group of people that were watching up ahead.

It was a big group; she hadn't seen so many men, woman and children together in what felt like forever.

"Let's go you two, come meet everyone." Morales said with a smile and began to get out the vehicle.

Andrea threw up the sliding door at the back of the van and wasted no time in jumping out, the others followed her and Eilidh waited until they were all out before she made a move to leave, once they were all gone she walked to the back of the van slowly and then looked over her shoulder, Rick was still sitting in the driver seat holding the wheel with his head down, "Rick?" she said after a beat and he turned in the seat to look at her, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." he replied instantly, "I just...I need a minute first, you go ahead."

"I can wait." she offered and he smiled then shook his head lightly, she gave him a nod and then turned away sensing that he must want to be alone, she stayed where she was for a second then took a deep breath before hopping out the back of the van.

As she walked around the vehicle she saw Andrea hugging a young blonde woman and the both of them were crying, Morales had two kids and a woman hugging him fiercely, he embraced them back with devotion.

She spotted Glenn just a bit further ahead with some other people around the car he had arrived in and when he saw her he waved her over towards him with a grin; she couldn't help but return it as she headed over to him.

"Hey." he said when she approached him, "Here let me get that for you." he added and took her duffel bag from her off of her shoulder and placed it on his own, she would have refused and told him she could manage it herself but it was such a nice feeling not having it weighing her down anymore that she didn't.

"Hi, thank you...I'm glad that you made it out okay." she said with a smile.

"Likewise." he told her with a wider grin than before.

"Who's this?" A guy with thick dark hair holding a shotgun appeared and asked Glenn with a frown.

"Oh, this is Eilidh, we ran into each other in the city…she's alone." Glenn told him.

"Not anymore. I'm Shane." the guy said to her with a nod and offered her a hand to shake, she accepted it and they had a very brief, firm handshake, "Welcome."

"Thanks." She replied and returned the nod.

"How did you get out of there anyway?" Shane said, asking noone in particular, "Thought you were trapped in the store?"

"Yeah we were but the new guy came up with a plan that got us out." Glenn told him.

"New guy?" Shane asked and then looked at Eilidh where he said, "Another new addition."

"Yeah, some crazy ass that just got into town." Morales replied and turned to look at where the van was sat, "Hey, helicopter boy, come and say hello."

Rick appeared from around the van a few seconds later with his hands on his hips looking at the ground.

"The guy's a cop, like you." Morales said and turned to look at Shane.

Eilidh noticed that Shane's face changed from curiosity to total disbelief and then she looked back at Rick who had a similar look of surprise on his own face.

These two knew each other.

She looked between the two men for a second before she noticed Rick's gaze shift from Shane to somewhere behind them, he lifted his hand as if to point and then immediately dropped it and began walking in a hurry towards what he was staring at.

"Dad!" A child shouted from behind them and he ran past them towards Rick, Eilidh and Glenn both turned around and there was a woman with brown hair chasing after the child, utter shock on her face.

The little boy ran into Rick's waiting arms, he fell to the ground whilst hugging the child tightly and they cried together.

Everyone watching the scene were equally as shocked as Rick and the woman who was obviously his wife, Rick stood up with his son in his arms and walked towards his wife, she walked towards him too and wrapped her arms around both him and their son.

Eilidh swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat and smiled to herself as she watched the reunion.

As Rick moved slightly she saw that his wife was staring off in the direction that she Glenn and Shane were stood in and she noted that it was in fact Shane the woman was staring at and she wasn't just staring, she had a look of utter perplexity mixed with a glare that could probably burn a hole through his face.

Eilidh glanced at Shane and saw that he was looking back at the family like he'd just been slapped very hard in the face.

Rick turned once more, this time to face Shane and he smiled at him, Shane quickly recovered and returned the smile with a nod.

"How about that." Eilidh mused aloud as she watched Shane.

"Tell me about it." Glenn replied smiling from ear to ear at her, "What are the odds huh?"

"I know." Eilidh replied with a smile after turning her attention back to him.

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say, that was unexpected." Morales said in a loud voice, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group, he laughed and almost everyone joined in with him except for Shane and Rick's wife, "How about we give them some privacy guys?" Morales added and began walking with his family towards the main camp, as he was passing Rick he gave him a pat on the back.

Everyone slowly began to do as Morales said, Shane however lingered around and paced back and forth slightly.

Glenn ushered Eilidh to follow him as he started to follow the others and she did, he walked towards the campfire where an older man wearing a fishing hat was stood talking to Andrea and the blonde girl, he nodded at Glenn as he and Eilidh approached.

"Isn't that sweet." he said with a smile as he looked towards Rick and his family.

"Yeah." Andrea agreed with her arm around the blonde girl's shoulder.

"This is Dale and Andrea's sister Amy, guys this is Eilidh." Glenn said and they both smiled at her, Andrea's smile however disappeared when she looked at Eilidh.

"Hi." Amy said to her.

"Nice to meet you." Dale then said.

"It's nice to meet you." Eilidh said to them both.

"Oh you're Scottish." Dale said with an enthusiastic smile.

"I am." Eilidh nodded.

"Great place Scotland, lot's of places to fish." Dale replied with a grin and lifted his eyebrows briefly after emphasising the word 'lot's', Eilidh nodded in agreement with a smile.

"We met in the city." Glenn stated as he sat down on a log.

"Scavenging?" the old man asked her.

"Yeah." she answered quickly and joined Glenn on the log.

"Where have you been staying?" Dale asked her.

"This past week I've been in some type of office block, I don't usually stay in one place more than a couple of days but I got trapped and I only just managed to get out today, that's when I ran into Glenn." she said with an apologetic look in his direction, he shook his head with a grin as if to say, 'don't worry about it'.

"Good thing you did." Dale replied.

"Yeah it is." she agreed with an inaudible sigh and Dale nodded, she looked at Andrea at Dale's side and noticed the blonde was watching her with narrowed eyes and when they made eye contact she raised her eyebrows at Eilidh in a taunting sort of way but Eilidh, too tired for nonsense, just smiled at her in return, "Listen Andrea, about what happened in the store." she began to speak and Glenn, Dale and Amy looked at her curiously.

"What?" Andrea asked abruptly, Amy and Dale looked at her with raised brows questioningly.

"I wanted to apologise." Eilidh said and surprise appeared on the blonde's face, "I shouldn't have done what I did."

"You're right, you shouldn't have." Andrea replied after a beat.

"Andrea." Glenn said with an open mouth but she cut him off before he could say anything else.

"What?" she snapped at him, "She put a gun to my head Glenn." she added in a louder voice, Eilidh noticed some people around them glanced in their direction.

Dale and Amy gasped and looked at Eilidh, "Really?" Dale said to her.

"Yeah, after she put hers to Rick's." Eilidh said in reply.

Dale and Amy stared at Andrea in shock, "Andrea!" Dale said her name in a way you would chastise a naughty child.

"I only did that because I was pissed, he's the reason we got trapped in the store." Andrea snapped at the older man.

"He also got us out of there." Glenn said in Rick's defence.

"He almost got us killed." Andrea countered.

"Look. We're out of there now, let's not brood over it any longer, yeah?" Eilidh said, silencing them both, "Now, you were pissed at him and I was pissed at you for not listening to what anyone was saying."

Andrea laughed humourlessly, "What, I'm supposed to take orders from you? Someone I had just met?!"

"What I'm trying to say Andrea." Eilidh said after a beat, she was starting to get annoyed, "Is that in light of the situation, things got a little out of hand...and I apologise for it."

A silence fell over the three of them, Eilidh held her hand towards Andrea, "What do you say, shall we put it behind us and start again?"

Andrea stared at her outstretched hand for a long time, her eyes once again narrowed, "Come on Andrea." Glenn encouraged.

"Clearing the air is a good idea." Dale said to her also and gave Eilidh a smile.

Eventually Andrea shook her hand and said 'fine' to which Eilidh responded with a nod, she was sure the shake was reluctant but she didn't really care, it was the right thing to do.

"Well...now that is sorted, would you like something to drink Eilidh? Some tea?" Dale said as he poured himself a cup.

She did a double take.

Tea? She hadn't had tea in so long; she found herself smiling thinking about it.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Dale said with a laugh and all she managed was a nod, he poured a cup and handed it to her, "There's no milk, obviously, hope you don't mind it black?" he asked apologetically.

"Not at all. Thank you." She said and put the cup to her lips, she took a sip and sighed, she'd missed tea, of course she'd had better cups in the past but with the circumstances she wasn't complaining, any tea was good tea.

"He's still in Atlanta." Glenn said eventually, Eilidh looked up from her cup and saw he was looking at Dale who must have been looking around and noticed Merle wasn't among them.

"Why?" he asked with furrowed brows.

Glenn exchanged a look with Eilidh and Andrea, "Long story." He said.

That night everyone in the camp were sat around the fire listening to Rick telling them about waking up from the coma he was in to find the dead walking.

Eilidh was sat with her tartan blanket wrapped around her next to Glenn listening along with everyone else intently; she knew there must have been a good reason for Rick riding into Atlanta like he'd had a death wish.

To wake up, months into the apocalypse…she couldn't get her head around it, it was too crazy.

"What about you? What's your story?" someone asked her once Rick had finished and suddenly everyone's attention was on her.

She looked around them silently for a second before composing herself, she tightened her blanket around her before speaking, "There's isn't much to tell to be honest…I was offered the opportunity to study my final year of uni abroad, I moved in with my roommate about a week before it all happened...and that was it."

All that could be heard was the crackle from the fire in the middle of the circle as she explained; the group never said a word.

"I went to the airport hoping I might get a plane back home; I think a few did manage to leave but then the military showed up and…well…...you can probably guess the rest." she finished with a shake of her head and a shrug.

"That sucks." Amy was the first to brake the silence after a long pause and she gave her a sympathetic smile.

There was another silence after that and she noticed a lot of people giving her the same look Amy did but she didn't want their pity, she stared at the fire in hope that it would distract her.

There was a woman named Carol in the group with her husband Ed and their daughter Sophia, they sat away from the group around their own small fire.

Eilidh didn't like Ed; there was something about him that rubbed her up the wrong way, she caught him looking at her earlier that day when she was having food with Glenn and she didn't like the way his eyes gazed openly all over her body, it made her uncomfortable, his wife was beside him whilst he was doing it too but he didn't seam to care.

"Hey Ed, you really think that extra log is a good idea?" Shane said loudly, putting an end to the quiet, everyone looked over at Ed who had just thrown a log on his own fire.

"Its cold out here man." Ed replied.

"Doesn't matter; our rule is keep our fires low, just amber so we can't be seen from a distance." Shane replied firmly with a look deep in his eye that Eilidh couldn't quite decipher.

"I said its cold; why don't you mind your own damn business for once." Ed shot back.

Shane immediately got to his feet, Eilidh watched him march over towards Ed, everyone around the fire had seamed to suddenly tense up; Shane was clearly not in the mood.

No one could hear what was said but they did hear Ed tell his wife to pull the log back out of the fire.

"Is he serious?" Eilidh asked Glenn in disgust under her breath and glanced at him, his facial expression told her he was thinking exactly the same thing she was, everyone in the circle seamed to react quietly in some way when they saw Carol do as her husband told her to and pull the burning log from the fire.

Shane returned moments later after talking directly to Carol and Sophia and sat back in his seat, he didn't look at anyone he just stared at the fire.

Dale cleared his throat and spoke, "Has anyone given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear that his brother was left behind."

"I'll tell him, it was me that dropped the key." T-Dog said and then looked at Eilidh, "I should have just given you the key like you said."

"If you'd have thrown me the key as I said it would have gotten lost anyway." she replied.

"No. I cuffed him so it should be me, I'll have a talk with him." Rick said.

"Guys this isn't a competition and I don't mean to bring race into this but...it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn replied and then glanced at T-Dog.

"I did what I did, I'm not going to hide from him." T-Dog replied.

"We could lie." Amy suggested.

"Or tell the truth." Andrea added with a sigh, "Merle was out of control yeah, something had to be done or he'd have gotten us all killed...your husband did what was necessary." She said and looked over at Lori, Rick's wife, "Merle got left behind and it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And what…that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale said, "Boy, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." Eilidh listened while the others discussed Merle's brother, from what was being said she had a feeling there was going to be a lot of trouble whenever he returned to the camp.

Merle hadn't exactly made an amazing first impression when she met him on the roof so she could only imagine what the other one was like.

"I was scared and I ran, I'm not ashamed of that." T-Dog said.

"We were all scared and we all ran, what's your point?" Andrea asked.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door on my way out." T-Dog answered, Glenn looked at him with raised brows, "That staircase is narrow, maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time, it isn't enough to break through, not that chain, not that padlock. My point...Dixon's alive and he's still up there handcuffed on that roof..that's on us." He said and looked around them, his gaze lingering on Eilidh longer, he then stood up and went to his tent.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

* * *

Eilidh woke up the following morning feeling extremely refreshed, despite the recurring nightmares she always had invading her dreams and waking her in the middle of the night.

Glenn had been good enough to let her share his tent and even his spare sleeping bag, the moment her head touched the pillow her eyes drooped and she had began to drift off, but it took her a while to fully fall asleep as she was that used to barely sleeping at all because it wasn't safe to do so, however knowing that there were people taking shifts watching over the camp helped ease her mind a little.

Before she got up she took advantage of the fact Glenn wasn't in the tent and stretched her arms and legs out as far as they would go accompanied by a long satisfied moan, she then rubbed her eyes gently and quickly changed into some fresh clothes, she tidied up the things inside the tent before unzipping it and the moment she did a wave of warm air hit her.

She huffed out a sigh as she sat back on her bottom, it was yet another clammy morning.

She pulled on her combat boots over her jeans that now had holes in the knees, at least this time she was well rested instead of half asleep as she got ready.

Once she'd tied the laces on her boots she just sat in the opening of the tent with her legs outstretched and looked around, not many people were up right now by the looks of it and she couldn't see Glenn anywhere,

Jacqui though, the other woman that was in the city with them the day before was doing some laundry across the camp.

Eilidh pushed herself up from the ground and walked slowly towards her pulling her hair into a ponytail as she did, "Morning." she said as she approached the woman.

"Good morning…did you sleep okay?" Jacqui replied with a smile.

"The best…I've not managed to sleep for a full night before without having to worry about-" she immediately answered but quickly stopped herself before she said too much, "Uh, walkers." she said and cleared her throat.

"I can't even imagine honey, at least here we have someone on watch every night…you were out there alone weren't you?" she asked.

Eilidh nodded and Jacqui smiled at her sympathetically.

"Can I help at all?" she asked Jacqui indicating the washing she was hanging up.

"Sure." She replied and handed Eilidh some damp shirts.

Once the pile of washing was hung up on the line Eilidh headed towards Glenn who had appeared in the camp a few minutes previous, he was watching Dale, a man named Jim and a couple of others taking apart the car he drove out of city.

"Look at them, vultures…yeah go on strip it clean." he sulked as Eilidh appeared at his side.

"Need every drop that we can get, sorry Glenn." Dale said with a smile holding a fuel can, patting his shoulder and walking off.

"You know there are probably hundreds, no, thousands of much better cars than this out there and they'll just be lying around for the taking...if we ever come across them I'll help you steal one, okay?" Eilidh suggested with an amused grin, Glenn grunted in response.

Shane suddenly appeared in his jeep next to them, braking hard causing dust from the dirt road to fly everywhere, Eilidh and Glenn turned the faces away until the dust settled.

"Water's here y'all, remember to boil before use." Shane said as he climbed out the jeep, "Morning." he said to Eilidh and Glenn.

"Morning." they both replied as he headed their way.

"Whoa, you feeling okay?" Shane stopped walking and asked her.

"Am I okay?….uh yes?" she said to him confused and glanced at Glenn but he was already heading away towards Dale.

"Your head is a bit…swollen." he said looking down at her forehead.

"What?" She asked and put a hand on her head, sure enough it felt slightly swollen, "How?" she mumbled to herself and quickly headed towards the RV to look in the mirror that was on the small bathroom wall, when she was looking in the mirror she saw Shane had followed her and was just outside the door.

"I look like a Neanderthal." she gasped in horror at her reflection and she saw him laugh behind her, she glared at him.

"No you don't." he said with a shake of his head after his laughter was gone but he was clearly still amused, "Has anything bitten you?"

"Not that I know of." she said as she pressed her forehead softly with her index finger, it felt spongy.

"It's probably just the heat." He told her with a shrug.

"The heat." she mumbled, "Was the sun really strong enough to do this?" she added in disbelief.

"For you maybe." He said with a short laugh and she stared at him shocked, "Sorry." He added and composed his face, she groaned.

"I thought I'd be used to this weather by now, I really don't know how you all can handle it every day." she said with a sigh and leaned against the wall.

"Don't you have a hat?" he asked with a raised brow as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Not anymore…I lost it." She said and suddenly thoughts of the crazy night she had abandoned her apartment started to flood into her mind but she shook her head lightly and refused to think about that.

"Come with me." Shane said after a beat as he started to head away, she followed him out of the RV and towards his tent.

"I've got another one here somewhere." he said as he disappeared inside his tent and then began searching through his things, she bent over and watched him inside the tent as she waited.

"Ah there we are." He said as he brought out a brown cap which had his and Rick's Sheriff's Department logo on the front of it from one of the bags, she straightened back up as he climbed out of the tent, he stood infront of her and put the hat on her head, "It needs adjusting." he said with a smile as he gave it a little pull causing her head to bob slightly.

"Thank you Shane." she replied with a smile and pulled her ponytail through the back then tightened it.

"Your welcome, hope it helps." he said with a nod and walked off.

She looked across the camp and found Glenn, she head towards where he was stood, he looked at the hat she was wearing as she approached and grinned, "Newest addition to the Sheriff's department yeah?"

"Yep." She replied with a smile, "Does it suit me?"

A sudden scream echoed through the camp and brought everyone to a standstill, Rick and Lori took off running however once they heard their son Carl shouting for them.

"Rick, catch!" Eilidh shouted and threw him a metal pole with a sharpened end that was lying near the campfire; he caught it and continued running.

Glenn, Dale, Shane, Morales, and Jim quickly followed Rick past Lori and Jacqui who were now with the kids amongst the laundry.

Just outside of the camp there was a walker crouched down and eating a deer which had arrows sticking out of it's body.

Eilidh appeared just behind the men followed by Amy and Andrea, the walker turned slowly when it noticed they were there and it began snarling at them as it started to get to it's feet, Rick was the first to hit it with the pole Eilidh gave him but he only slightly staggered it, the rest of the men followed suit and each started to hit it as it started to come at them again.

Several whacks later Dale used the axe he was holding and managed to take its head clean off its shoulders and it's body instantly dropped to the ground.

"This is the first one we've had...they never come this far up the mountain." the old man said after a beat, slightly out of breath.

"Mustn't be much people left in the city." the man named Jim said, everyone looked at him and he shrugged.

A sudden rustling from the bushes startled them and they all prepared their weapons for what was about to appear, Shane moved ahead of the others with his shotgun aimed at the trees and Glenn stepped infront of Eilidh with his weapon raised.

Luckily it wasn't another walker; it was a man holding a crossbow and he had lots of squirrels attached to some string slung over his shoulder, the second he appeared the group lowered their weapons, Eilidh noticed some of them looked at each other nervously.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer!" he said annoyed in a deep voice when he took in the half eaten deer on the ground next to the walker.

He slowly approached the animal tight lipped and shaking his head, "Look at it...all gnawed on by this." he stopped speaking and began kicking the walker's body hard, "Filthy, disease bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

Everyone seamed to take a step back as he kicked, Dale however just stayed where he was and spoke, "Come on son, calm down, that's not going to help now is it?"

"What the hell do you know about it?" the guy said and walked over to Dale.

Shane held his shotgun infront of him to stop him from getting in the old man's face, "Step back." he said in a light warning tone.

"Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?" The guy snapped at Dale and walked back towards the deer.

"I've been tracking this thing for miles." He grumbled as he was pulling the arrows out of the animal's body, "I was gonna drag it back up to camp and cook us up some venison…what you reckon, think we can cut around this chewed part here?"

"I wouldn't risk that." Shane replied with a sigh and held his gun across his shoulders.

"That's a damn shame...I got us some squirrels though, about a dozen or so...that'll have to do." the guy said whilst tapping the string on his shoulder.

The walkers head on the ground made a gasping noise and it's eyes darted around the group that were staring down at it, it snapped it's teeth angrily at them.

Amy and Andrea walked back towards camp disgusted, Eilidh stared down at it, it wasn't too far away from her feet and the eyes seamed to be staring right back at her as the teeth snapped some more.

"Come on people, what the hell?" the crossbow guy said and shot an arrow into one of the eyes, the head was still once more, "It's got to be the brain, don't you know nothing?" he added as he retrieved his arrow and walked by them all towards the camp.

Eilidh watched him as he passed by, there was no doubt that this was Daryl Dixon, he had a similar accent to Merle and he looked slightly like him.

He had some similar features to his brother only he was younger and somewhat more attractive to look at.

She hoped the resemblance was the only thing that the two had in common though because Merle had been a racist, violent asshole to the group when they were in the city and from what she'd heard all the other times as well.

Daryl had been out hunting and came back with food for the group whereas Merle had only seamed to be thinking about Merle, but, now the younger Dixon was back.

He was pissed that a walker had gotten the deer he was hunting, what will he do when he hears the news that his brother was left behind?


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

* * *

Eilidh hung back to wait for Glenn before heading back into camp, "Daryl Dixon?" she asked him for confirmation, not that she needed it, he nodded, "You look nervous Glenn." she stated as they walked side by side behind the others, Shane was leading them and trying to speak to the other Dixon as he went.

"This is going to be bad." he said as they stepped back into the camp.

"Is he dead?" she heard Daryl ask Shane, he was calmer than before and stood across from the former officer with his head angled down slightly, as if he was preparing himself for the worst.

Eilidh folded her arms across her chest as she stood by Shane's jeep beside Glenn.

"We're not sure." Shane answered him after a beat and Daryl's expression suddenly changed.

"You're not sure? He either is or he ain't." he snapped back, "Which is it?!"

"Look there's no way to say this so I'll just say it." Rick walked towards Daryl and stopped beside Shane, he spoke before his friend could.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl demanded from Rick.

"Rick Grimes." Rick answered.

"Rick Grimes…you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl said angrily and held his arms open.

"Your brother was jeopardising us all in the city…I handcuffed him to a pipe on a roof and he's still there." Rick answered calmly.

Daryl walked away from him shaking his head then he stopped so he was facing him again, "Let me just, process this…you're telling me that you handcuffed my brother to a roof...and then you left him there?!" He said, his voice raising in pitch with each word until he was shouting.

It was a tense moment, people around the camp were murmuring to each other.

"Yeah." Rick said quietly with a nod after a beat of silence.

Daryl's seamed to pace for a moment before his face started to screw up, he halted once more and was staring at Rick, he looked like he was about to explode.

He launched the squirrels and then lunged for him; Shane however had moved quickly and knocked him to the ground before he could get anywhere near him, Eilidh dropped her arms to her sides and she found herself taking a step forward, Glenn seamed to copy her action.

When he was on the ground Daryl pulled his knife from his belt and got to his feet, he swiped it at Rick who caught his arm and twisted it behind his back.

Shane then wrapped his arms around his neck and yanked him down to the ground, "You better let me go!" Daryl shouted in frustration.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane replied.

"Choke holdings illegal man!" Daryl protested from the ground furiously.

"File a complaint." Shane said dryly, "Now come on man, calm down." he added as Daryl struggled some more.

Eilidh couldn't help but feel bad for Daryl, he reacted the way he did because he was upset, understandably, now he was on the ground unable to move with everyone in camp watching him.

Rick bent down to the ground to speak to him, "Now listen here, I'd like us to have a calm discussion on the topic...do you think we can manage that?" he asked Daryl who ignored him at first and then eventually he nodded his head once, Shane let go of him and stepped back.

"Now…what I did was not on impulse, your brother does not work and play well with other people, he was out of control." Rick said.

"It isn't Ricks fault, I had the key…and I dropped it." T-Dog said from across the camp.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snapped at him.

"Well I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog said after glancing at Eilidh.

Daryl grunted and looked at the ground, "If that's supposed to me make me feel better it don't." he said eventually and slowly stood up.

"Maybe this will, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him, I used a padlock." T-Dog added.

"That's gotta count for something." Rick said.

Daryl looked around the camp and stifled a cry; he wiped his eye with his arm roughly, "Hell with all y'all, it doesn't! Tell me where he is and I'll go get him."

"He'll show you…he's going back...aren't you?" Lori said from the door of the RV, glaring at Rick.

Rick stared at her for a moment then nodded at Daryl.

"Yeah, I'm going back." he said and Daryl shook his head then walked away.

Eilidh stood with her arms folded over her chest at the edge of the quarry cliff thinking to herself as Rick had gone off to get changed for heading into the city.

She chewed on her lip as she thought, Merle was still in the city on the roof when they left him, but what if he wasn't anymore, what if with all the shouting he had been doing... _they_ found him, before his brother and the others can get to him.

If they do have Merle, he could lead them directly back to the camp, directly back to her.

A shiver ran down her spin at the thought of.. _them_ being anywhere near the group that had taken her in without hesitation.

She dropped her arms to her side and sighed as she debated with herself, should she go back when she had tried so hard to escape? It had been her main goal for so long to get away and it finally happened…only because of Glenn's help, he had come along and took her back to his group with him therefore she felt she owed him completely, he didn't actually know just how grateful she was yet.

Could she stay where she was in the safety of the camp when her new friends were out risking their lives?

She couldn't, she couldn't bear the thought of Rick going back down into the city with little backup, she had to go.

Turning, she took in her surroundings and her eyes landed on Rick and Shane, they were talking or rather Shane was disagreeing with Rick's plan to retrieve Merle.

She walked forward slowly until she was stood next to Glenn.

"So you and Daryl…that's your big plan?" She heard Lori ask Rick, he looked at his wife then turned to Glenn with raised eyebrows.

"Oh come on." Glenn moaned beside Eilidh.

"You know the way; you've been there before, in and out, no problem...you said so yourself, I know it's not fair to ask you but I'd feel a lot better if you were there, I know she would to." he said and looked at his wife again, Glenn didn't answer.

"I'll go." Eilidh said after a beat and everyone looked at her surprised, Glenn started to protest but she shushed him.

She felt eyes on her from the right and when she looked in that direction she found herself looking at Daryl, he was looking over at her with furrowed brows for a moment he then shook his head and went back to cleaning his arrows.

She looked back at Rick who was watching her thoughtfully but then he began shaking his head, "Why not? I've been before…hell I was living there before I was here." she said to him.

"Nah, you ain't going." Shane said to her dismissively and she shot a glare his way.

"I don't remember asking your permission." she shot back at him.

"Look I appreciate it Eilidh but I don't think-" Rick started to speak but she cut him off.

"I'm going Rick." She told him matter-of-factly, "I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I've got your back."

Rick let out a sigh of exasperation after obviously realising that there was no point in arguing with her.

"Well there you go now, that's just great you're gonna risk 3 of the group." Shane said and gestured to the men, completely ignoring Eilidh's volunteer yet again.

"Four." T-Dog corrected and Daryl scoffed at that.

"Five." Eilidh added in a firm voice, Shane looked over at her and she looked back at him with narrowed eyes, he didn't say anything more though he only shook his head then put his hands on the back of his neck in frustration and walked around slowly.

"Well that's five then." Dale said after a beat.

"It's not just five people okay, you're putting all of us at risk here, just you know that Rick.

You saw that walker...it was here, it was here in our camp! If they come back we will need every able body that we've got, we need these people here, we need them here to protect the camp!" Shane said flustered, his face seamed to be getting redder with anger each time he spoke.

"No, it seams to me that what you really need here most are more guns." Rick said calmly.

"Right…the guns." Glenn said and looked at Eilidh as they both remembered the bag Rick left behind in the street.

"What guns?" Shane asked Rick.

"Six shotguns, two high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns, I cleaned out the station cage before I left but I dropped the bag in the street when I got swarmed, it's just sitting there waiting to be picked up again."

"Ammo?" Shane asked.

"700 rounds, assorted." Rick answered and Shane hung his head briefly.

"You went through hell to find us, you just got here and now you're gonna leave?" Lori moaned from where she was sitting.

"Yeah, I don't want you to go dad." Carl added.

"Hell with the guns, Shane's right, Merle Dixon?! He isn't worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in!" Lori argued and Rick walked over to talk to her.

"Look I owe a debt to a man and his little boy that took me in, it's because of them that I made it back to you, they said they'd follow me to Atlanta, they'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn them."

"What's stopping you?" Lori asked him after a beat.

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped, he has the other one, our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"Is it our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah." Rick answered.

"So use the CB, what's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The CB is fine, it's the walkies that suck, they date back to the 70's and they don't match any other bandwidth not even the scanners in our cars." Shane replied.

"I need that bag Lori." Rick whispered to Lori and this time she didn't argue, he bent down to his son, "Understand?" he asked Carl and the little boy nodded, "All right then." he replied.

Eilidh pulled herself up and into the back of the van they used to escape the city to find an impatient Daryl Dixon pacing back and forward, she fixed her rucksack on her back then walked past him, earning herself a glare as she did.

"Is there something wrong Daryl?" she asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"Why are you coming?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"I left him behind too." she answered after a beat and he shook his head at her then walked away towards the back of the van, she sighed and walked towards Glenn who was sat in the driver seat.

"You ready for this?" she asked from behind him and gave his shoulder a quick pat.

"You really don't need to come you know, I know the way fine even with you having stayed there." Glenn said with a sigh turning his body in the seat to face her, she shrugged.

"I know you do but like I said…I left him behind too." she replied and looked over her shoulder briefly at Daryl, he was pacing again.

"Okay." Glenn said after a long moment and sighed.

"For crying-" she heard Daryl moan from behind her then suddenly, he was right next to her, "Move." he growled in her ear before he bumped her in the shoulder hard, causing her to fall into the side of the van.

"What-Excuse you!" she exclaimed as he placed his foot on the horn and beeped impatiently.

"Come on, Lets go!" he shouted to Rick and T-Dog as he walked towards the back of the van again.

"Jeez." Glenn said, "You okay?" he asked Eilidh as she straightened herself up.

"Aye, I'm fine…I can see that being an asshole runs in the family." she said loudly so Daryl could hear her, he turned and gave her the finger; she shook her head at him.

"Charming." She muttered and rubbed her elbow before she sat down behind the passenger seat, T-Dog appeared in the van then and sat across from her with a sigh.

Rick and Shane stood at the end of the truck talking for a moment, Shane gave Rick some bullets before they pulled the shutter of the van closed, Rick then climbed in the passenger seat; Daryl walked towards Eilidh and T-Dog, he put his crossbow down next to her and sat on the other side of it.

"Let's go." he said to Glenn impatiently.

The Journey into the city was a quiet tense one, Eilidh's heart was racing at the thought of being back there again.

"He better be fine, that's my only word on the matter." Daryl said to T-Dog threateningly about 20 minutes into the drive.

"I told you, the geeks can't get at him, the only thing that's going to get through that door is us." T-Dog replied.

Glenn stopped the van on some rail tracks not long after that, "We walk from here." he told them all and everyone exited the van.

They headed up the tracks, having to jog to keep up with Daryl as he raced off infront of them, they stopped briefly at a fence and climbed through an opening, "Merle first or the guns?" Rick asked them.

"Mere! We ain't even having this conversation!" Daryl snapped.

"We are." Rick told him firmly and turned to Glenn and Eilidh, "You both know this place best, it's your call."

They started to jog once more when everyone was through the fence, "Merle is closest." Eilidh answered first.

"Yeah the guns would mean doubling back, Merle first." Glenn agreed.

"All right then." Rick replied.

Once they had reached the building where Merle was, Rick then led the way, he halted them with his hand and pointed to a walker across the room, it hadn't realised that they were in the room yet.

Daryl snuck on ahead so he was standing infront of the female walker, "Damn, you are one ugly skank." he said before firing his arrow into her skull, once she fell he walked over and yanked his arrow back before moving swiftly on through the building.

Once they reached the stairs that led to the roof and were certain that there wasn't any more walkers around Daryl overtook them and practically sprinted up the steps.

When they reached the top Rick nodded to T-Dog to use the bolt cutters on the chain and as soon as he did Daryl kicked the door open the rest of the way, he ran through the door and onto the roof shouting for his brother.

Everyone followed behind him but stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what Daryl was seeing, he began shouting "No!" over and over again with tears in his eyes.

Eilidh placed a hand on her forehead under her hat briefly then covered her mouth with it.

Merle's hand lay next to Dale's hacksaw, surrounded by blood.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

 _For anyone that may be wondering, Eilidh is pronounced Ay-Lee._

* * *

Daryl had been shouting 'No' loudly for a while when they first found the hand, he had then started kicking the pipes in frustration and no one attempted to stop him, it was best to just leave him to it, but now, he was completely silent and it was quite unnerving.

He paced back and forth, breathing in and out hard, his eyes never left Merle's hand on the ground; Eilidh and the others watched him anxiously after he suddenly stopped.

What happened next happened fast, they had given each other the same look when they had saw the hand, it was an 'oh shit' look, so naturally they _were_ expecting some type of retaliation from him but even so, it happened fast.

He spun around and pointed his crossbow right between T-Dog's eyes, seething with anger and his finger on the trigger, Rick mimicked his movement instantly and pointed his gun at Daryl's head.

"I won't hesitate, I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." He threatened him.

Daryl stared for a long moment at T-Dog with his jaw clenched and he inched closer.

"Put it down Daryl." Eilidh urged, desperate to diffuse the situation, she stepped forward so she was at his side, he looked at her and she almost stepped back from him, the glare he was giving her was extremely intimidating.

"And why the hell would I listen to you?" he all but growled at her and the way he said 'you' was as if he had just tasted something incredibly foul.

She was slightly taken aback and swallowed under his gaze, his attention was once more on Rick as the former officer physically pressed the gun against his head, eventually he lowered his weapon and looked at his feet, Rick then pulled his gun away and holstered it.

"You got something I could use to cover it?" Daryl turned and asked T-Dog.

T-Dog nodded and took out a rag from one of his pockets, he held it outwards and Daryl snatched it and walked over to where Merle's hand was; he laid the rag on the ground and lifted the hand by a finger, "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the cuff…ain't that a bitch." he said as he put the hand on the rag and wrapped it up.

He looked at the group briefly and then his eyes settled on Eilidh and Glenn, she realised what he was about to do, she and Glenn were the only two with backpacks, she immediately shook her head with a firm no.

He walked towards the two of them staring at her with narrowed eyes as he did, there was no way she was going to allow him to put Merle's hacked up, bloody hand inside her bag, she crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back as he approached.

He shook his head at her before he pointed at Glenn, he moved around him and opened the bag, he then shoved the hand in it and zipped it back up, all whilst Glenn stood there miserably.

"He must have used a tourniquet, there'd be more blood if he hadn't." Daryl said after a beat, giving a chin nod to the trail of blood on the ground as he began to follow it.

Rick indicated to the others that they should follow him, T-Dog collected Dale's red toolbox as the rest of them headed through a door on the other side of the roof that headed down into the other side of the building.

"Merle! You in here?" Daryl shouted down the stairs, his voice echoing around them.

He and Rick both had their weapons drawn, ready to fire.

They descended the stairs into a hallway; Daryl checked an office and found it was empty, they then walked along the hallway and came across two dead walkers.

"Look, he came through here and he managed to take out these sumbitches. One-handed." Daryl said as he began to adjust his crossbow, "Toughest asshole I ever met my brother, you could feed him a hammer and he'd crap out nails."

"Doesn't matter how tough he is, he's lost a lot of blood." Rick said and continued following Merle's blood trail, Daryl made a noise and moved quickly so he was once again leading them.

Eilidh looked down at the walkers on the ground as she cautiously stepped by them with Glenn and T-Dog at her heels, she followed the men along the hallway with her knife in hand and she couldn't shake the feel of unease she had, she was back in the city and the city wasn't safe, she swallowed and pulled on the straps of her rucksack reflexively as if to somehow pull it closer to her even though she knew it was securely on her back.

She chewed on her lip and tightened the hold on her bag as her thoughts took over her mind, "Think we'll find him alive?" Glenn whispered as he suddenly appeared at her side causing her to jump a little, "Sorry I didn't mean-"

"No…don't worry about it, I was a million miles away." she said cutting him off.

"Somewhere nice?" he asked, playing along as he looked around the place.

"Far from it." She breathed out and picked up the pace so she could catch up with Rick and Daryl before Glenn could ask her anymore questions.

o

The blood trail led them to a kitchen, "Merle!" Daryl shouted before they stepped inside.

"Keep your voice down, there could be walkers." Rick whispered firmly and placing a hand infront of him.

"Screw that, he could be bleeding out, you said it yourself." Daryl replied and shoved Rick's hand away as he headed through the door.

There was a flame burning on one of the cookers, with blood over it and Merle's belt was there next to a piece of metal.

"What's all that burned stuff?" Glenn asked.

"Skin." Rick replied instantly.

"What...you mean that-" T-Dog began to speak but Eilidh finished for him.

"He cauterized the stump." she said in a low voice but they all heard her, Glenn held back a gag.

"Told you he was tough, nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Daryl said quietly.

"Don't get your hopes up Daryl, like I said, he's lost a lot of blood." Rick told him.

"That didn't stop him from busting out this place." Daryl said as he inspected a broken window.

"He left? He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked bewildered.

"Why wouldn't he, he's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's gotta do...surviving." Daryl answered.

"That isn't surviving, wondering into the streets maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" T-Dog asked.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl shouted at them and Glenn and T-Dog looked at their feet ashamed, "You couldn't kill him and I ain't worried about him against some stupid geek." Daryl added to Rick.

"Yeah? Well what about 1000 stupid geeks...different story?" Rick shot back.

"How about you do a head count, you do whatever you want but I'm gonna go get him." he said but Rick stopped him with his hand and pushed him back.

"Daryl wait." He tried to reason.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me" Daryl shouted back loudly.

"Keep your voice down!" Eilidh snapped at him.

He turned around to face her and started to move towards her, ready to give her some sort of abuse but Rick stopped him, "Listen I don't blame you okay he's your family, I get that, it was a nightmare trying to find mine and I know exactly how you feel...he can't get far with that injury alright, we could help you check a few blocks but ONLY if we keep a level head." Rick told him.

"I can do that." Daryl replied after a beat, somewhat calmer than before.

Rick looked at T-Dog, Glenn and Eilidh, "How about it?"

"Only if we get those guns first, it's suicide without them." T-Dog said what they were all thinking.

o

The small group headed back the way they had come and they gave the place another quick check to make sure it was safe before they settled in the office they had passed.

The guns were in a bag by the tank that was surrounded by walkers still, it would require a plan to retrieve them.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl said to Glenn.

"It's a good idea...just hear me out. If we go out there in a group then we're slow and we'll be drawing attention but if I'm alone then I can move fast…look." Glenn said, indicating to his map he'd made from things in the office on the floor that they were all huddled around, "This is the tank, it's five blocks from where we are right now...that's the bag and here's the ally that I dragged you into when we first met." Glenn continued and he glanced at Rick, "Daryl and I will go there."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"That's quieter than his gun." Glenn replied and pointed out his crossbow.

"I'll go too." Eilidh told him with a nod.

"No Daryl is enough and no one goes down there without a weapon." Glenn said to her.

"I have a gun-" she started to speak but Daryl interrupted her.

"You got some hearing problem girl?" He snapped at her and tapped his crossbow, "He's taking me because mine is silent." He emphasised the last word.

"My hearing is fine." she hissed back at him, "Maybe there's something wrong with yours because if you had been listening you'd have realised I wasn't finished speaking." she finished with her own emphasis on the word 'had' and began opening her bag.

Daryl didn't say anything, he only glared at her.

"I've got this." she said to the men as she brought out a 9mm with a silencer on the end of it, "And I've seen you reloading that thing, not exactly nimble is it?" she added to Daryl.

"It's fine." he snapped back at her.

"She has got a point." Rick said silencing Daryl from saying anything more, "Extra cover."

"I don't need some brat watching over my ass." Daryl growled at him.

Eilidh scoffed, "Please, I'd much rather be covering Glenn's, believe me." she shot back and Rick sighed at the two of them.

"Okay then, fine...whilst Daryl and Eilidh wait here in the alley, I'll run up the street and grab the bag...simple." Glenn said and Daryl looked over at Eilidh after Glenn mentioned them together, he rolled his eyes at her.

"You got us somewhere else?" Rick asked.

"Yeah you and T-Dog, you'll be in this alley here."

"That's two blocks away…why?" Rick said.

"I might not be able to come back the same way if walkers cut me off, if that does happen then I won't go back to Daryl and Eilidh, I'll just go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are so whichever direction I go...I've got you guys in both places to cover me…afterwards we'll meet back here." Glenn said and everyone agreed with the plan, it was good, solid.

"What did you do before all this?" Daryl asked him after he stopped scowling at Eilidh.

"I delivered pizza's…why?" Glenn said looking around them all slightly confused, but they all just nodded their heads, that was believable due to how thought out his plan was.

o

Glenn climbed down the fire escape ladder which he, Rick and Eilidh had escaped up the day before, followed by Daryl and then Eilidh.

The three of them wandered along the alleyway and stopped between two dumpster that were next to the gate heading onto the street.

Daryl loaded an arrow in his crossbow and Eilidh loaded her pistol, the gun was a last resort so she attached it to her belt and kept a hand close to her knife.

"You've sure got some balls for a Chinaman." Daryl told Glenn.

"I'm Korean." Glenn corrected him.

"Whatever." Daryl replied.

"Don't get eaten." Eilidh said to Glenn as she moved so she was next to Daryl.

"I'll try not to." he replied with a grin which she returned.

"Come on." Daryl suddenly said in a loud voice, "The more time you two waste flirting the longer Merle's out there on his own." he grumbled, Eilidh screwed up her face at him and he stared back at her with narrowed eyes again.

"Right uh, I'm…going." Glenn said with furrowed brows, Eilidh nodded at him and then he ran to the gate.

Daryl moved so he had his back against the dumpster, Eilidh was crouched next to him near the edge so she could see what was happening, Glenn quickly disappeared out of the gate.

"Don't be getting in my way." Daryl warned her and she turned her head to look at him.

"Don't you be getting in mine." She replied and then peaked back out, she was too tense to argue with him.

His hand was then suddenly on her shoulder pulling her back into the dumpster so she was where he had just been, "What are-" she began to say but he put a hand over her mouth to stop her, he was crouched infront of her and mouthed 'shush' he then slowly moved his hand away and got his crossbow ready, he turned and moved to the edge of the other dumpster, she stared at his back anxiously, what had he seen?

He seamed to wait a few seconds then he jumped out from where they were with his crossbow pointed at whatever the threat was.

"Don't move." he told whoever it was.

"Whoa! Don't shoot!" A guy shouted back.

Eilidh came out from the dumpster and stood behind Daryl, the guy was a kid and he was maybe 18 or 19, "What do you want?" he asked them with his hands up.

"I'm looking for my brother he's hurt, you seen him?" Daryl asked as he took a step towards the boy who responded by shouting something in Spanish and Eilidh flinched, she turned around to see if there were any walkers that might have heard him.

"Shut up! You'll bring the geeks down on us, now answer me!" Daryl said whilst still pointing his weapon, "Come on, answer!"

The boy repeated what he'd said again but much louder this time, "Shut up!" Eilidh said to him but he kept shouting until Daryl hit him across the face with his crossbow, knocking him to the ground.

"Shut up." he said as he was crouching over the kid covering his mouth.

Eilidh heard a noise behind her and turned again, "Daryl!" she shouted to him as two men came charging through the gate towards them, she pulled her knife from her belt but had no time to use it as one of the guys punched her hard across the face.

The hit knocked her to the ground beside Daryl where she landed with a thump, rattling her head off the ground in the process, she looked up at him and saw that he looked from her to behind him, the men shoved him away from the boy and started beating him beside her, one of them had a baseball bat.

Everything seamed to be a blur, she could hear the men shouting to one another as they were hitting Daryl but she couldn't make out what they were saying, she saw one of them leave him and run back the way they had came, she turned her head and saw Glenn who had just appeared through the gate with the bag of guns in his hand, he stared open mouthed for a second before attempting to run but the man grabbed him and started beating him, his friend that was beating Daryl left him and ran towards Glenn too.

"Glenn." She said and tried to get up to help him but the blow from the punch had left her stunned and slightly dizzy, all she could do was watch.

Daryl sat up and grabbed his crossbow, he shot it at the men and managed to get one of them in the ass, he screamed out in pain.

"Get off me!" Glenn shouted as he struggled against the man that was dragging him out of the gate, a car suddenly pulled up just outside it and both men climbed in and they took Glenn with them.

Daryl got up and ran towards the gate, "Come back here you sumbitches!" he shouted after the car as it sped away out of sight, walkers then grabbed for him but he pulled the gate closed just in time.

T-Dog and Rick appeared at the end of the alleyway and came running towards them calling out their names just as Daryl came running back, he was about to lay into the boy that was on the ground beside Eilidh, she slowly pushed herself up so she was sat against the wall out of the way, she gently touched her cheek and winced, her head was also pounding.

"Whoa! Stop that!" Rick said as he was holding Daryl back.

"I will kick your nuts in your throat! You hear me?!" Daryl shouted at the boy, "They took Glenn!" he continued some more to try and get free from Rick, "And they whacked her!" he added and pointed at Eilidh on the ground, Rick looked down at her.

"They took Glenn?" T-Dog asked him.

"Yeah they took him, that little bastard and his little bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Daryl shouted.

"Eilidh are you okay?" Rick asked her over Daryl's shouting.

"Peachy." she said and started to slowly get to her feet using the wall for support.

"Guys we're cut off!" T-Dog shouted frantically.

"Go!" Rick told him and he took off dragging the boy with him, Rick then leaned down to pick up the bag of guns that the men hadn't managed to steal, he hesitated for a beat before he also picked up his sheriff hat.

"Come on, dammit, let's go!" Daryl snapped at Eilidh when she didn't move straight away to follow T-Dog, she breathed out slowly and then started running with him and Rick following closely behind them.

o

The four of them stood around the boy from the alley in the office where they had made their plan, he was sat in a chair in the middle of the room, Eilidh sat on the floor against the wall near the door with her arms leaning on her knees.

"Those men that you were with, where did they go?" Rick asked the boy.

"I'm telling you nothing." he said defiantly.

"Jesus man, what the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked whilst rubbing his head.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped us." Daryl said as he paced back and forward.

"Man you're the one who jumped me puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault." the boy replied.

"They took Glenn, they could've taken Merle too." Daryl said to them.

"Merle? What kind of a hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle." The boy said goading Daryl.

It worked, he threw a kick towards the boy's face but missed as Rick pushed him back, "Damn it Daryl! Back off."

Eilidh got up from where she was sitting and walked towards the boy so she was stood infront of him, "Just tell us where they went…please." she tried to appeal with him.

He seamed to stare at her thoughtfully for a brief moment before he looked around the men.

"Make me baby." he said then pouted his lips and made kiss noises at her.

She was about to step back herself but Daryl appeared and pulled her back by the arm, surprisingly not that forceful, so he was infront of her, "You better tell us something soon, cause if you don't." he said to the boy before turning to T-Dog across the room, "The bag."

T-Dog tossed Daryl Glenn's bag, he caught it and started to unzip it, "See what happened to the last guy that pissed me off." he said as he grabbed Merle's hand and took it out of the cloth it was wrapped in, he threw it onto the boy's lap who threw it away quickly screaming and jumping out the chair, Daryl moved and grabbed him by the neck, "I'll start with the feet this time." He threatened him and Rick pulled him back once more and held a palm up to him, he stepped back until he was stood beside Eilidh.

"The men you were with took our friend, all we want to do is talk to them; see if we can work something out." Rick said to the boy who was still cowering on the floor.

o

The boy had decided to cooperate and take them to where his friends were, the threat Daryl had given him about his feet had clearly terrified him.

"You ready for this?" Rick asked T-Dog as the five of them stood around the corner of the building where the boy's group were.

"Yeah." he said with a sigh picking up the guns and leaving them to head for the roof across from the building.

"One wrong move and you're getting an arrow in the ass...just so you know." Daryl said to the kid.

"G's gonna take that arrow out my ass and shove it up yours, just so you know." He replied.

"Who's G?" Eilidh asked him.

"Guillermo...he's the man here." The boy said after a beat.

"Okay then…let's go see Guillermo." Rick said standing up, Daryl kicked the guy forward, and they all kept their guns on him.

The group stopped infront of a set of big doors; they opened almost immediately upon their arrival and a guy they presumed as G came out.

"You okay little man?" he asked the boy.

"Their gonna cut off my feet." the boy replied nervously.

"Cops do that?" The guy asked Rick as he took in the uniform he was wearing.

"Not him man, this redneck puto here, he cut off some dude's hand, he showed me it." the boy said, he seamed close to tears.

"Shut up." Daryl said to the boy.

"Hey! That's him! The guy what shot me in the ass with an arrow." One of the men from the alley said coming out the doors with a gun pointed at Daryl.

"Chill, Ese, chill." G said holding a hand up to stop his friend, "Is this true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick man." He added and looked past Daryl to Eilidh, she saw him look her up and down slowly and then he made a noise that caused her skin to crawl, "You take our boy's feet and we might just take this pretty little muchacha here right off your hands, I know for a fact that she'd be real popular with my men." he said with a sly smile.

Eilidh froze at his words, her heart started to pound in her chest and her hands holding her gun began to shake.

Daryl stepped infront of her at once and tightened the hold he had on his crossbow, "Maybe I'll put an arrow through your balls." he growled at G, the man laughed at him.

Eilidh stared at his back, grateful yet very surprised for his intervention.

"We were…hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick said trying to ease the tension between the groups, "And I won't hear anymore talk of what you just said." he added in a threatening tone.

"This dude jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe then gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion?…you fascinate me." G replied.

"Yeah well…heat of the moment, mistakes were made on both sides." Rick said.

"What is he to you anyway? You don't look related." G asked, looking at Daryl.

"He's one of our group and I'm sure you have a few like him." Rick said gesturing with his head to the men behind him.

"My brother in there?" Daryl demanded from G.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys but I do have an Asian, you interested?" G replied.

"I got one of yours; you have one of mine, sounds like an even trade." Rick said.

"Don't sound even to me." G replied.

"G…come on man." the boy said to him.

"My people got attacked…they need some sort of recompense but more to the point, I'm more interested in knowing…where's my bag of guns?" G replied, ignoring the boy.

"Guns?" Rick asked.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street, the bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get...that bag of guns." G said.

"You're mistaken." Rick replied.

"Yeah I don't think so." G said with a smirk.

"About it being yours, it's my bag of guns." Rick said simply.

"It was in the street, anyone can say it was theirs, what, I'm supposed to take your word for it?" G said, "What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

"You could do that…or not." Rick said looking up at T-Dog who had a sniper pointed at G's head, G looked up at him then back at Rick, he then smirked and shouted something in Spanish, two people on the roof above him appeared with Glenn, hands tied and a bag over his head.

Eilidh stared up at him and tightened the hold on her gun, she then looked back at the men infront of them past Daryl's arm when the men on the roof with Glenn disappeared.

"I see two options, you come back with Miguel and my bag of guns that way...everybody walks or you come back locked and loaded...we'll see which side spills more blood." He told them and then swiftly headed back inside the doors.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

 _For anyone that may be wondering, Eilidh is pronounced Ay-Lee._

* * *

The group headed back to the office they had made their plan in after the conversation with G.

Daryl had headed inside with T-Dog and Miguelito following him but Rick held back to speak to Eilidh who had been walking at the back of them slowly.

"You've not said anything the whole way back." he said as he walked beside her.

"I'm fine." she replied instantly.

"You sure?" he asked whilst stopping her with a hand up, she halted and looked up at him, "Seams like something's on your mind."

there was, she hadn't stopped thinking about what G had said about her, "What he said..don't let it bother you because we won't let anything happen to you." Rick added, as if he'd read her mind.

It made her think about a time not so long ago, a time she'd tried to erase completely from her mind yet she knew she'd never be able to do that, "I just want to get Glenn back." she said after a beat and then walked into the office.

"Back to the drawing board." T-Dog said with a sigh as she entered the room.

"Not quite." Rick replied as he came in behind her and closed the door, he put the bag of guns on the desk and opened it, he brought half out, "Offer them some guns."

"You really think they'll agree to that? A gun's worth more than gold, but gold won't protect your family…you going to give it up for that kid?" Daryl asked him.

Eilidh stood in a corner of the room listening to them with her arms folded over her chest.

"If I thought it would get him back, I might agree…but do you really believe they'll just hand him over?" T-Dog asked.

"You calling G a liar?" Miguelito asked him.

"You part of this? You want to hold onto your teeth?" Daryl said slapping the boy where he sat on the ground.

"I'm saying do you trust his word?" T-Dog asked.

"No, what you willing to bet on it? Could be more than the guns, could be your life…is Glenn really worth that to you?" Daryl said.

"Yes." Eilidh said from the corner and the men looked at her, "Glenn came along to help you find Merle Daryl."

"I didn't need help." he said but she ignored him.

"He risked his life…and Rick, when we saw you from the roof he was the first one to say 'we have to help him', we have to trust that guy's word…we don't have any other choice." She continued.

"She's right, whatever life I have I owe to him…I was nobody to him, just some idiot who got himself stuck inside a tank, he could have walked away but he didn't. Neither will I." Rick said, "Look if you guys don't want to get involved you should head back to camp." He continued.

"I'm not." Eilidh said stepping towards the desk with the guns.

"If we go back what do we tell your family?" T-Dog asked with another sigh.

Rick looked at him but didn't speak, he looked from T-Dog to Daryl and finally Daryl nodded and picked up a gun, Rick then handed T-Dog one also who began to load it.

"Come on guys, this is nuts." Miguelito said and stood up, Daryl pointed to the floor and he sat back down with a sigh, muttering something in Spanish.

Rick picked up a handgun clip and held it towards Eilidh, "I have a full one in my pack." she said to him and picked up a shotgun.

"You take a shot with that thing and you'll be on your back." Daryl said to her whilst loading his gun across from her.

She looked up from the gun in her hands and noticed Rick had been watching her load it with a smile.

She knew how she must have looked holding such a huge weapon, she was very petite at 5'3 and she'd often been told she looked really young for her age, childlike, but she wasn't.

"I'll be fine." she said confidently, returning her attention back to the gun.

"Whatever." Daryl replied.

o

As the group approached the building with a gagged Miguelito, the doors opened for them and they entered.

Eilidh exhaled slowly in order to slow her accelerating heartbeat as she walked into the building; she held onto the heavy shotgun in her hands that tight it was tiring her arms.

The room was filled with guys with weapons, guns, bats, pieces of wood and thick pipes.

The four stopped infront of G who looked Rick over and shook his head, "I see my guns and I see that they're not all in the bag." He said.

Eilidh quickly zoned out of what was being said between Rick and G, she was too busy looking around the faces in the room, she was trying to see if she recognised anyone and she was praying that she wouldn't.

"No my hearing's fine, you said come locked and loaded, here we are." Rick said and cocked his gun, that sound caught Eilidh's attention and she mimicked him movements followed by Daryl, everyone in the room who had a weapon then prepared to use it.

It was a tense moment, G and Rick stood staring at each other.

Eilidh spotted the guy who hit her in the alleyway stood in the crowd and moved her aim from G's head to his, he noticed and glared at her.

"Felipe! Felipe." A voice came through the room.

Eilidh looked past her target with furrowed brows to an old lady in a night dress, slippers and cardigan.

She lowered her weapon slightly as the woman came forward and stood next to Felipe, "Abuela, go back with the others now." Felipe said.

"Get that old lady outta my line of fire!" Daryl snapped at the men.

"Abuela listen to Felipe, this isn't the place for you now." G said to him.

"Mr Gilbert is having trouble breathing, he needs his asthma stuff." The old lady said to Felipe, "Carlito didn't find it."

Eilidh lowered her gun again as her mouth formed in a small 'o', "He needs his medicine." she heard the woman say.

G looked at Rick then Felipe, he began to look anxious, "Felipe go take care of it! And take your grandmother with you."

At those words Rick lowered his weapon completely with a sigh.

"Who are those people?" The woman asked and stepped towards them, Daryl lowered his weapon, "Don't you take him." she said to Rick.

"Ma'am?" he asked her.

"Felipe's a good boy, please we need him here." she said.

"Ma'am…I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick told her with compassion.

"Then what do you want him for?" she asked.

"He's helping us find a missing person ma'am." Eilidh said and everyone looked at her including the old lady, "A guy named Glenn."

"The Asian boy?" the woman asked her and smiled, "He's with Mr Gilbert, come I show you." she said as she took Eilidh's hand and pulled her off through the crowd of men, "He needs his medicine." she said to herself as they walked.

Rick and the others began to follow Eilidh and the old lady.

"Let them pass." G said with a sigh.

o

The old women took Eilidh through the building and up some steps into a nursing home, the building was full of old people and more of the men from where they'd just been.

The woman took her into a room and let go her hand, there was a crowd of people around an old man in a wheelchair and he was struggling to breathe.

Felipe walked over quickly and gave him an inhaler.

Glenn was stood by watching, his face was full of concern.

Rick looked at him surprised, "What the hell is this?" he asked as he appeared at Glenn's side.

"Asthma attack came out of nowhere." Glenn answered without furthermore explanation as if the two groups hadn't just been about to light the building up with gunfire.

"We thought you were being eaten by dog's man." T-Dog said and Glenn turned around to look at three Chihuahuas sitting in a small dog bed.

"Can I have a word with you?" Rick asked G and they moved away from the group to talk.

Eilidh stood beside Glenn, "You're okay." she said confused, looking him over for any sign of harm but he was perfectly fine.

"Yeah, I thought they were going to kill me until they brought me in here." he replied.

"We were getting ready to fight back." she whispered horrified as she looked around the group of elderly open mouthed.

"Guys." Rick said behind Glenn and Eilidh, G walked out of the room followed by T-Dog and Daryl, Rick indicated for Glenn and Eilidh to follow them also.

o

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick asked G as they walked into a room.

"The Vato's trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents, they see how things are and most of them decide to stay, it's a good thing, we need the muscle." He replied as he sat on a table, "The people we've encountered, they are the worst kind, plunderers, they take by force."

"That isn't who we are." Rick said as he glanced around Eilidh and the others, she was leaning against the wall with Glenn beside her, T-Dog and Daryl were stood to the side of G.

"How was I to know? My people are attacked then you show up with the kid hostage. Appearances." G said.

"The world changed." T-Dog stated.

"No, it's the same as it ever was, the weak are taken, we do what we can, Vatos go out and scavenge what they can to keep us going." G replied and then he looked at Eilidh, "Look...I'm sorry I said what I did." he said directly to her, "It was just to scare you, we'd never have-"

"I know." She said cutting him off, "As soon as I saw that old lady I knew."

He nodded and then looked at the floor briefly, he seamed hesitant to say whatever he was thinking about, "There's this group of people, here, in the city. We've ran into once before just outside this place...they were uh...looking for some girl that had run away from them." he finally said to them and Eilidh's eyes widened, "I really hope they haven't found her because, damn, you don't need to be no genius to work out what they would do if they found her...or why she ran away from them in the first place...now I reckon that if there wasn't more of us than them that day, they'd have killed us and tried to take our people so, heads up for you-" G continued but Eilidh cut in.

"When was this?" she demanded and a silence fell upon the room.

"What? When those people came?" he replied.

"They aren't people." she snapped whilst shaking her head quickly, "When was it?"

"A couple of weeks ago." he replied after a beat with a shrug and looked from her to the others, she closed her eyes for a second and then glanced at them all too, they were watching her with confused expressions.

"I'll wait outside." she said quickly and hurried out of the room.

o

With her shotgun at her feet Eilidh stood against a wall in a hallways around the corner from the room biting her thumbnail with unshed tears in her eyes, she wouldn't cry, she couldn't.

She pulled her cap off and tucked it underneath her arm after she folded them both across her chest, a couple of weeks ago she was moving through the city towards where she and the group were right now... _they_ were just here then, they could have found her.

The realisation of that was too much and she choked on a sob, her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

She could have ran right into them.

She shook her head at the thought and looked to the side, she heard a door open followed by a shadow moving in her direction, she sniffed and quickly rub underneath her eyes.

Glenn appeared beside her seconds later and she could see him move silently from one foot to the other out the corner of her eye before he spoke, "Are you okay?"

She avoided eye contact with him and stared at a spot on the wall across from her, "Fine."

"….do...uh, do you know...that group, the one that guy is talking about...do you...know them? You're not...that girl...right?" he eventually asked her after a long moment of silence.

She wanted to reply to him and she opened her mouth to do it but she couldn't find the words to speak, instead she closed her mouth again and looked down at her feet.

He let out an almost inaudible groan and then said her name in a soft, sad voice before he walked towards her.

"Aren't they done talking?" she quickly changed the subject as she bent to pick her shotgun up before walking past him back towards the room but when she walked around the corner she halted, Daryl was leaning against the wall outside of the room and there was no doubt in her mind that he'd heard what Glenn had asked her.

They stared at each other for a short, slightly uncomfortable moment before she spoke, "Are we about ready to leave?"

He nodded slowly in response and then Rick appeared in the doorway, followed by G, "I'm glad we worked this out."

Eilidh turned her back on Daryl's scrutinizing gaze and put her hat back on by means of busying herself, Glenn moved to stand just infront of her but she refused to look at him.

"Me too." G said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Rick replied and then turned to speak to Eilidh and the others, "You guys ready?"

"Yeah." Glenn said.

"Let's roll." T-Dog said as he walked out of the room and towards where Glenn was.

"Right then." Rick said and turned to give G a brisk nod before walking off with everyone close behind him, Eilidh made sure to walk at the back of the group with her eyes on her gun as she did.

o

"Just admit it; you only came back for the hat." Glenn teased as they headed back to their van.

"Don't tell anyone." Rick replied.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl snapped, officially ending the banter.

"Not nearly half!" Rick shot back.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are going to die off momentarily anyhow? How long do you actually think they got?" Daryl continued.

"How long do any of us?" Eilidh asked noone in particular as she walked, noticing Daryl out the corner of her eye glance her way, Rick and Glenn stopped suddenly.

Eilidh, Daryl and T-Dog stopped beside them, everyone looked around.

"Were the hell's our van?" Daryl asked.

"We left it right there who would take it?" Glenn asked.

"Merle." Rick said simply.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl replied after a beat and lowered his head a little.

"Let's go, it'll be dark soon." Eilidh said and began to move in the direction of camp, she didn't want to linger in the city a moment longer.

"She's right, let's not hang around." Rick said and they all hurried after her.

o

The group jogged most of the way back to camp, in the hopes of making it back before nightfall.  
The journey took its toll on Eilidh; she was sweating all over and not because she was unfit but with a rucksack on her back, the huge shotgun in her hands and the weather all combined, it was a bit much.

As they were running up the quarry road they heard gunshots firing and loud, terrified screams.

"Oh my god!" Rick half whispered next to Eilidh, he then started to run fast and everyone instantly followed him.

Eilidh's legs were already burning and her breathing was coming out hard but she pushed herself on and managed to keep up with the men.

They reached the camp moments later and it was chaos, there were walkers everywhere, half the camp were already killed.

Rick, Daryl, Eilidh, Glenn and T-Dog wasted no time and started firing the weapons they were holding.

Eilidh approached a walker and fired her shotgun, taking it down before it processed properly that she was stood infront of it and she was knocked back a step from the kick of it.

Daryl ran off ahead of her and fired his gun, he then used the but of his rifle to smash another walker's head in.

Eilidh spotted a walker that had it's back to her, it was shuffling towards people across the camp, she aimed her weapon and was about to pull the trigger but a hand latched around her ankle and pulled her to the ground causing her to lose the grip she had on her gun and it landed a few feet away from her, she let out a yelp as she went down.

She looked behind her and saw a walker held down by a spade through its stomach pulling on her foot, she grabbed fistfuls of the grass and pulled but the walker now had a tight grip with both hands and was pulling her back.

The walker she had been about to shoot turned around upon hearing her struggling and started to make its way towards her.

"Ah hell." She moaned and stretched an arm out in attempt to reach her gun, everyone was busy around the camp so she was on her own but she couldn't reach the gun, she tried to shake the walker off her foot and push herself up as she did but she was only dragged back down onto her chest once more.

"Get off me." she growled at the walker behind her and snarls came from above her bringing her attention back to infront of her, the walker was reaching for her but just before it could it was knocked in it's side to the ground and stabbed in the brain with an arrow.

Daryl turned to face her and aimed his crossbow at the walker that was grabbing her ankle, he fired a bolt and the pulling suddenly stopped, she kicked her ankle free and he pulled her up by the arm, she gave him a grateful nod but he just headed towards some other walkers, she picked up her gun and followed him.

They managed to take down the remainder of the walkers without much hassle, Rick ran to Carl and Lori once they had.

Eilidh was stood rooted the spot looking around the camp, she could feel tears of anger and grief welling up inside her, half their group was dead.

Her ears picked up strangled cries of help along with crying from over by the RV, she looked over and her eyes landed on Amy, the young girl was lying on the ground with a huge bite out of her throat, Andrea was trying desperately to help her but it was too late, her convulsing body slowed until she was still, she died almost instantly after that.


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

* * *

The morning after the attack on the camp was a quiet one; almost noone had slept except from the kids.

Eilidh had helped separate the walkers and the dead members of the group into two piles after it had happened but they didn't continue all through the night, they had saved most of the work for the following morning and kept watch for most part of the night incase any other walkers made an appearance.

Daryl was using a pickaxe to make sure that the walkers that were put down stayed down and that the people who were killed wouldn't turn.

Glenn and T-Dog carried the dead walkers across to the fire they were using to burn them and Shane, Dale, Lori and Carol were all sat around the campfire.

Eilidh though, she was sat against the red car on her own with an arm slung over her bent up leg, she stared at the other leg that was outstretched, the walker that grabbed her ankle had left scratch marks on her already scuffed combat boots.

If she hadn't been wearing those but her other shoes instead, those scratches could have been on her legs, she cringed in fear at the thought.

Her attention was drawn to movement across the camp; it was Rick, he was approaching Andrea who had sat by Amy's side all night outside the RV, never moving apart from her palm that would occasionally stroke her dead sister's head.

She pulled her gun on him and aimed it at his face as he began to crouch down beside her and everyone reacted by standing up to intervene, not that it would matter, if she wanted to kill him she could and it would be too late for anyone to stop her.

Rick backed away from her slowly with his hands raised in defence and once he was away from her she lowered the gun and turned her attention back to Amy.

Eilidh stood up slowly and walked towards the campfire, she stood next to Carol just as Daryl appeared, "We just gonna stand here or we gonna do something? It's only a matter of time." he said so only the group around the fire could hear as he glanced at Andrea.

"Do something? I just did and you all seen how she reacted." Rick said.

"Just take the shot from here, right now." Daryl answered.

"For god's sake, no, just leave her alone." Lori said, silencing him, as she sat down in a chair, he then gave each of them around the fire a glare before he walked away shaking his head.

Eilidh looked over at Andrea and Amy, it would happen soon, Amy would turn and she would have to be put down.

Eilidh sighed at that and looked at her feet for a second but Glenn's desperate voice caught her attention and she glanced over at him across the camp following Morales and Daryl as they carried a dead camp member towards the fire.

"What are you guys doing? Our people go over there...are you listening? We don't burn them...we bury them." he said, his voice cracking at the last moment.

She noticed that the two men thought about what he said for a moment before they turned and dragged the body over to the pile of the dead camp near the RV.

"What? Just deserts? Man shut up!" Morales snapped loudly at Daryl as they both set the body down.

"What?! You all left my brother for dead! You had this coming." Daryl shouted back but it was to everyone listening.

Eilidh watched him with an open mouth as he strode away, what an awful thing to say, these people didn't deserve what happened to the camp, they may have left Merle behind but they also went back for him.

She pulled her hat off and rubbed her forehead with her eyes closed.

"What happened to your face Eilidh?" Dale asked.

"My face?" she asked and turned back to look at him.

"Yeah, its cut and your cheek is red and scraped, oh, the top of your head has dried in blood too." he replied.

"Oh…that was yesterday, one of the guys hit me and I fell." she said with a shrug after touching the top of her head, Dale made a wince face.

"Is it sore?" Carol asked her.

"Just a slight headache but really, it looks a lot worse than it is, I'll be fine. I actually forgot all about it." she told them with a smile.

"Jim got bit!" Jacqui shouted interrupting the camp and everyone including Eilidh headed towards Jim quickly.

"Show it to us!" Daryl demanded as he moved closer to him.

Jim picked up a shovel in defence as everyone started to crowd around him.

"Easy Jim!" Shane said to him, "Put it down man."

T-Dog grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms and Daryl lifted his shirt up to reveal a nasty, red bite on his torso and T-Dog let him go and swiftly stepped back.

People in the camp immediately started to back away from him, except Eilidh, she didn't move.

After everything that had already happened, now this…poor Jim.

"I'm okay." Jim said quietly and then he kept repeating that over and over to the group.

o

Everyone stood around listening to what would be best for Jim; Rick wanted to head to the CDC to see if someone there could help him, he had heard they were working on a cure. Shane wanted to head to the Army Base at Fort Benning and Daryl thought they should just kill him.

"I really think the CDC is our best bet, what if they do have a cure there? Jim could be fine." Rick said.

"Do you really believe that?" Shane asked frustrated.

Eilidh was only half listening to the discussion, she was busy keeping her eye on Daryl who was stood next to her fidgeting, he kept looking back at Jim every now and then and soon he tightened his hold on the pickaxe.

"Daryl." she said when she seen him backing away from the group.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do." he said and started to rush towards Jim, raising the pickaxe as he did, "Somebody needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!"

Everyone raced after him and Rick put his gun to his head just in time, halting him, "We don't kill the living." he growled at him

"And you just put a gun to my head." Daryl said after a beat as he turned to face Rick.

"Put it down Daryl." Eilidh said with a sigh and rolled her eyes at him.

He looked at her then threw the axe down and sauntered away.

Some of the group stayed near Jim after that incase he tried anything else, Eilidh then moved in his direction slowly, he had headed over to where the dead members of the camp lay.

"What do you want?" he turned around and snapped at her as she came up behind him.

"I came to see how you were." she replied calmly even though he'd made her jump at his outburst.

"You wanna know how I am?" he demanded with furrowed brows.

"Yeah…Merle isn't here." she said.

He opened his mouth to reply, probably to bark something rude at her but he didn't, he closed it and after visibly thinking about what she asked for a moment he shrugged.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find him…and I'm sorry he got left behind in the first place." she added and he responded by turning his back to her to pick up an axe that was on the ground, he then proceeded to continue making sure that the other dead people in the pile didn't come back.

So, figuring that she wouldn't get another word out of him and the fact that she didn't want to stick around to see people that had been wandering around the camp the day before alive and well having their skull's fractured, she turned and started to walk away.

"Why didn't you kill them?" he called after her seconds later and she stopped walking.

"What?" she asked once she had turned back to face him.

"That group in the city." he replied.

"Well...our aim was to negotiate with them...you were there, killing them was a last resort." she replied.

"I'm talking about the other group." He said immediately after she'd finished.

That caught her off guard.

Her mouth opened but no words came out and she closed it again quickly and stared at him, for the longest moment she just...stared at him.

She repeated the words he'd said over and over in her head and each time she did the memories flooded in and attacked her mind.

Trying desperately to calm herself she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and looked at the dead bodies by his feet, she then screwed up her face in a confused way and looked up at him, "Uh, I don't-"

"I saw your face when he was talking about them and everyone heard what you said so don't bother acting like you don't know what I'm talking about." he said, cutting her off.

She stared at him for a long moment and he stared right back, he wanted an answer and she knew that she wouldn't be able to bullshit him.

She eventually looked at the ground again and seeing a stone by her feet she begun playing with it, she did that for a few seconds before stopping and speaking in a low voice, "What...you think I didn't try?"

He shrugged, "You don't really seam like the type...if you were they wouldn't be after you now."

Her mouth dropped open at that, "Are you serious? Really...do you ACTUALLY believe I didn't?"

"I dunno." he said and shrugged again before he lifted the axe and smashed it into another head, she shook her head and all but marched back so she was stood infront of him once more, only this time she was closer, she scowled up at him.

"Of course I tried!" She said in an angry whisper, "I fought like, HELL, every damn day."

He looked down at her with narrowed eyes and took a step back, she looked up at the sky and shook her head in disbelief that he could assume that of her, she then turned her attention back to him.

"I tried you asshole, alright. I tried so hard that it almost killed me...more than once. In the end though that doesn't matter because there's really only so much that ONE person can do when there are a group of men against them." she said with gritted teeth before she stepped back from him and turned away, she had revealed too much, she shouldn't have even opened her mouth.

She glanced at him after a few seconds had passed and noticed that his facial expression was shocked but when he saw her look at him it changed instantly to anger.

"Oh don't you dare…you don't get to be angry at me okay. You had the cheek to imply I just lay down and took it!" She hissed at him after she turned to face him again, "Don't you judge me when you don't even know me." she added with a finger pointing at him.

Silence filled the space between them for a long uncomfortable moment before he broke it by stepping towards her, she had to mentally tell herself to not move away as the way he came at her seamed intimidating.

"It's not YOU I'm angry at." he told her in the same tone she had spoken to him and then turned his back on her; he swung the pickaxe with more force than necessary into one of the dead camp members head.

She didn't hang around, she turned and walked away from him.

o

There was a funeral for the people who were killed in the attack.

The group could finally mourn their dead after nearly a whole day of the camp being cleaned up.

Andrea put Amy in the grave herself, Dale had tried to help but she protested saying she could manage alone, everyone stood by and watched the scene sadly.

Eilidh stood next to Glenn and he kept his head low, "You okay?" she asked him gently as she put a hand on his back.

He sniffed, nodded and then gave her a weak smile.

o

The following morning the group were packed and ready to leave the quarry for the CDC, that was the final decision on where they were going.

Eilidh thought it was slightly weird how Shane had been so set on Fort Benning, arguing every chance he got and then all of a sudden he just changed his mind and agreed that Rick's plan to head to the CDC was the best option.

"Okay guys if you have a problem, honk your horn once, any questions?" Shane said to them all as they all stood around the cars.

"We're uh…we're not going. We have family in Birmingham so we want to be with them." Morales said and everyone turned to look at him.

"Seriously?" Glenn asked him stunned and he nodded his head.

"You won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane said to him after a beat of silence.

"We'll take our chance, I have to do what's best for my family." Morales replied and pulled his wife closer to him, she nodded in agreement.

"You sure about this?" Rick stepped towards him and asked.

"We're sure." Morales answered with a firm nod.

Rick and Shane gave him a gun and a box of ammo after exchanging a look between each other, Eilidh noticed Daryl shake his head disapprovingly when they handed over the weapon.

After Morales had the gun in his hand the rest of the group each took turns to say their goodbyes to the family.

One of the children ran over to Eilidh and hugged her fiercely around the waist; she was surprised but hugged her back anyway.

"You take care sweetheart yeah?" she said as she bent down to the little girl's level.

The child nodded at her and as she did a piece of loose hair escaped from her clip holding it in, Eilidh reached forward and sorted it for her.

"Oh." she said after she fixed it, "Why don't you take this?" she asked the girl and pointed to her wrist.

"Really?" the girl replied excited.

"Sure." Eilidh nodded.

"Thank you so much." the little girl said and smiled as Eilidh took her friendship bracelet off and attached it to the girl's wrist.

It was a Douglas Tartan patterned bracelet that one of her friends gave her years ago,the girl had admired it when talking with Eilidh the day she arrived in camp.

"There you are." Eilidh said as she tightened it to fit the girl's small wrist, "It suits you."

"I love it! Thank you. I promise I'll take good care of it." she replied with a giggle.

Eilidh felt a pang in her heart at the sight of the child being so excited, people had to enjoy the small things in this now shattered world and that rule applied more to the children, the ones that were left anyway.

"You're welcome." she replied.

The little girl then threw her arms around her neck and she gasped in surprise before she returned the hug.

"Time to go baby." Morales said as he came up behind the two of them, Eilidh stood up.

"Look daddy, she gave me her bracelet." the child beamed up at him.

"Oh that was nice of her, did you say thank you?" he asked.

"She did." Eilidh said with a smile and without think about it she bent to kiss the top of the girls head, "You take care Morales." she added to him and he nodded.

"You too." he said and they shook hands.

Morales and his family headed to their car after that, the little girl gave Eilidh one last tight hug around her waist just before they did and she grinned in return.

"What you hanging around for? If you're riding with me hurry up." Daryl's voice suddenly came from behind her.

Upon hearing this she turned to face him, her eyes widened slightly, "With you?"

She glanced from him to the truck that she was stood beside, his truck.

"It ain't no big deal." he replied with a bored shrug.

"Uh…sure, why not…thank you." she said but he didn't respond he just climbed in the truck.

"Okay y'all, let's get moving." Shane said loudly to everyone from his car near the front.

"Glenn." Eilidh said and walked towards him quickly, he was just about to climb in the RV.

"I grabbed your bags don't worry, they're in here with mine." he said and gave the RV a pat.

"Oh, thanks." she said.

"No problem." he replied.

"I'm riding with Daryl." she told him quickly.

"Daryl?" he asked shocked.

She nodded and cleared her throat as she felt her face begin to heat up.

"Okay." He said with a grin and then he climbed the steps into the RV and closed the door behind him.

Eilidh jogged to Daryl's truck and climbed in, neither of them said a word to one another, he didn't even look her way when she got in.

Rick's car horn sounded a second later then it slowly started to move, the cars behind it moved out on to the road too and Morales and his family drove in the opposite direction.

o

The majority of the drive was quiet, Eilidh and Daryl had barely spoken to each other with the exception of one point where he took out a packet of cigarettes from the glove compartment and offered her one, she had declined it and then proceeded to lift her feet onto the dashboard, he then instantly moved his hand out and slapped the underside of her calf before saying, "Get your feet off my dash."

Eilidh had stared at him in shock because it wasn't a light slap, it had stung.

She had brought her feet down slowly and then acting on impulse she reached over and grabbed the just lit cigarette that was sticking out of his mouth to throw it out his open window.

He had made a sound of disbelief before looking at her with an expression that could probably turn her to stone and said, "You didn't just do that."

She had stared at the road ahead with her arms folded across her chest and said, "Those things will kill you."

He hadn't responded right away after that, he had just took a fresh cigarette out and put it between his lips then lit it, after taking a drag and blowing the smoke in her direction he spoke in a warning tone, "Do that again and your ass will be getting left at the side of the road."

That was the only interaction they had at all until one of the horn's up ahead honked causing the cars infront of them to come to a stop.

"What's the problem now." Daryl said in annoyance as he stopped the truck.

"There's smoke coming from the RV." Eilidh replied as she got out, Daryl made a noise before he followed her.

"I'm outta duck tape." She heard Dale say as she appeared at the front of the RV.

"There's something up ahead, gas station if we're lucky." Shane said looking through binoculars.

"When are we ever lucky?" T-Dog said with a sigh.

"Guys! It's Jim and it's bad, I don't think he can take anymore." Jacqui said in a rush as she appeared beside them, she then ran back the way she had came.

Eilidh watched her go until she disappeared then she hung her head, Jim was getting worse, like Amy it was only a matter of time except Amy had already been dead.

"Hey rick, I'm gonna go and see what I can bring back, keep an eye out." Shane said to his friend and Eilidh was about to volunteer to go with him, she didn't want to stay around and watch Jim suffering, T-Dog though offered to help before she could.

"Alright y'all, won't be long, watch your back's." Shane said before he and T-Dog headed off.

Rick told the remainder of the group that he was going to see how Jim was and he then headed to the RV.

Eilidh stood at the front of it with her arms folded over her chest and she watched Shane and T-Dog until they disappeared out of sight.

o

By the time Rick came back out of the RV, Shane and T-dog were back, they had managed to find what they were looking for without any hassle.  
"Guys…he wants us to leave him here." Rick said to them.

"What?" Jacqui asked horrified.

"Leave him." Eilidh whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick replied.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.

"He seams to be, I would say yes." Rick said.

"Back in camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shot me down…you misunderstood, I would never go along with callously killing a man, I was just going to suggest that we ask Jim what he wants." Dale said.

"Well, it looks like we have our answer." Eilidh said with a sigh and everyone looked her way briefly.

"What, we just take off and leave him here? Nah, don't think I can live with that." Shane said in reply to Eilidh but then he looked at the rest of them.

"It's not your call…either of you." Lori said to both Rick and Shane.

o

It was decided that Jim would be left behind, he wanted it that way because he knew he wasn't going to last and he was in unbearable pain during their journey.

Rick and Shane carried him to a tree at the side of the road that was out of the sun, they sat him up against it.

Eilidh hovered at the back of the group as each person spoke to him to say goodbye before they left, when it was her turn she took off her hat and walked slowly over to him, she hesitated before she knelt infront of him.

"Hey." he said to her in a strained voice.

"Hey Jim…I...I'm so sorry that this happened to you." she whispered to him after a beat, she wasn't sure what to say to him, she'd never been in a situation with a person that was bitten before.

"No…It's okay, I'll get to be with my family again…I can't wait." he replied and smiled weakly before he started to cough, he then lifted a hand to cover his mouth.  
Eilidh leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, she didn't know how to comfort him in any other way, eventually he stopped coughing and inhaled deeply.

"I'm glad that I got to meet you." she said and he nodded as a smile appeared on his face.

"He'll keep you safe." he whispered and she looked at him confused.

His eyes then moved to look behind her, she followed his gaze by looking over her shoulder, Daryl was stood watching them from a short distance away, he couldn't hear them from where he was but Jim had whispered anyway, she turned her head back to look at him infront of her.

"He will. You can guarantee it." he told her in a matter of fact tone.

She stared at him for a long moment, thinking about what he said, Daryl would keep her safe?

She was sure her presence was really irritating to him but then again, he did speak up when G had threatened her and he had let her ride in his truck with him, did that mean something?

Jim nodded with a smile and she quickly returned it before she gave his shoulder a squeeze then stood up.

She then turned and walked past Daryl towards his truck whilst putting her hat back on, she glanced over her shoulder and saw him walk forward until he was a few feet from Jim where he nodded at him once and then turned and walked towards the truck that she was just climbing inside.

The rest of the group started up their vehicles a few moments later and slowly eased away from the side of the road, it was hard driving by Jim sitting against that tree; even though it was what he wanted Eilidh couldn't help but feel guilty, she kept her eyes on the road ahead.

O

When they arrived at the CDC Eilidh's heart sank.

The place was covered with bodies, walkers and people and the smell was horrendous.

Once the group were parked up and out of their vehicles they walked towards the building quickly.

"Let's keep moving everyone." Rick whispered when some of the group slowed as they were passing the bodies.

Eilidh walked near the back, her gun in hand and her nose covered with her other arm.

She immediately slowed to a stop when she came across a woman and child, the child looked as if she was probably the same age as Sophia and Carl, maybe even younger.

They each had a bullet through the forehead and the woman was holding the child's hand.

Seeing those two lying there had a stronger impact on Eilidh than the rest of the bodies did.

"Don't look." Daryl said in a gentler voice than usual from behind her before she felt his hand on her lower back where he guided her forward to follow the group, she didn't protest.

"Come on! Keep moving." Shane and Rick kept whispering to everyone.

The kids had began crying and everyone else started to panic.

When they appeared at the building's entrance they found that the shutters were down, Rick and Shane immediately tried to open them but they had no luck.

"There's noone here." T-Dog said.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick replied.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouted and everyone turned in that direction, he took out the closest walker with one of his arrows before he started to storm towards Rick whilst shouting, "You led us to a graveyard!"

Eilidh grabbed the back of his shirt at the same time Shane shoved him back.

"He made a call!" Shane shouted at him.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl responded.

Rick kept banging on the shutters desperately as Daryl tried to get at him.

"What are we going to do? We can't stay here!" Carol cried out.

"She's right, we can't be this close to the city near dark." Lori added.

"Rick come on, we have to go." Shane said as he moved towards Rick and tried to pull him back.

Rick shoved him away, "No there has to be some here, the shutters are down!"

"No one is here!" Shane shouted back at him.

Everyone tried to beg Rick to leave but he was adamant someone had to be in the building.

"Come on man, we have to go!" T-Dog shouted at Rick.

"And go where? Fort Benning was our only other option, that's a 100 miles away and we've hardly any gas left as it is." Andrea said.

"125 I checked." Glenn said.

Shane and Lori tried to pull Rick away but by this time he was at breaking point banging on the shutters in desperation.

"We have to leave!" Eilidh shouted as she took in the walkers that were heading their way.

"Come on everyone, let's get to the cars." T-Dog agreed and the group started to head in that direction.

"The camera! It moved." Rick shouted, stopping everyone.

"You imagined it Son." Dale said to him.

"No it moved I swear." Rick replied.

Eilidh looked at Daryl and he shook his head and shouted at her and the others, "Come on!"

"You have to let us in! You're killing us!" Rick screamed up at the camera as Shane pulled him away.

Just as they had turned their backs, the shutters went up and everyone stopped to turn back and stare in disbelief.

Someone was in there, Rick was right.


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

Sorry guys for the lack of update, I've been busy here and there, been writing for my other fic and busy at college, I'll try and keep it regular for you all.

Thank you to the fav's and follows I really appreciate it. :)

* * *

Once those shutters of the huge CDC building had went up the group hesitated for only a second before they all hurried inside and pulled the heavy doors closed behind them, they were met with silence in a large dimly lit foyer.

"Hello?" Rick and Shane shouted a few times only to hear the echo of their own voices.

Eilidh was stood beside Carol and Sophia near the back of the group, she looked around the large area they were all standing in and noted that it seamed untouched, immaculate.

The sudden sound of a gun cocking across the room had everyone on alert, Carol stepped infront of Sophia as Eilidh moved to the front of the group to stand next to Glenn; they both had their weapons drawn along with Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Daryl.

"Any of you infected?" A man shouted to them with a gun aimed at them from the shadow of a doorway.

"No…not anymore, one of the men with us was but he didn't make it." Rick said back after a beat.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked.

"A chance." Rick replied.

"A chance you say...that's asking an awful lot these days." the man said as he stepped out of the shadows and walked slowly towards them, he looked tired and slightly unkempt.

"We know but...please." Rick answered.

The man stared at Rick for moment before he then looked around each member of the group, "You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."

"Of course. We can do that." Rick said.

Eilidh looked over at Rick as panic suddenly started to rise within her, a blood test?

Blood tests require needles...she couldn't do that, she couldn't be near needles. Not again. She quickly swallowed the lump in her throat and then looked at Glenn.

"Glenn." she whispered to him next to her, but he only glanced briefly at her, he was too busy paying attention to what the man was saying.

"If you have stuff to bring in you had better do it now because once this door is closed it stays closed, do you understand?" the man said to them firmly.

Rick nodded at the man and then he Daryl, Glenn and Shane headed back outside to get everyone's things from their cars, they did it quickly and were back in a matter of minutes.

Once the men were back and safe in the building, the doors were closed and the man used a card on a keypad then spoke into it, "Vi, seal the main entrance and kill the power up here."

After he spoke the shutters on the outside of the doors were back down and the lights went out, the only area that was lit was the doorway that the man came from.

"Here." Daryl said as he walked towards Eilidh and roughly handed her the duffel and rucksack that her things were inside.

"Thanks." she mumbled and turned her back to him to sort the bags onto her shoulders and back, she coudn't help the shaking of her hands as she did.

The thought of having a needle in her arm again was unbearable, she wiped the beads of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand before taking a deep breath and turning back around where she found Daryl watching her with a frown.

"What?" he asked her and she was about to reply but she just shook her head instead and walked past him to stand beside Glenn again.

"I'm Rick Grimes." she heard Rick say with an extended hand to the man.

"Dr Edwin Jenner." the man replied after looking at them all again, he then shook Rick's hand.

"Where do we take this test?" Rick asked the Dr.

"This way." the man replied and led them towards the lit doorway, once through there he led them towards an elevator.

o

The elevator ride was very quiet, everyone was exhausted, physically and mentally.

Eilidh was stood against the wall at the back with Glenn and Daryl on either side of her, Daryl was stood slouched in the corner.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" he asked Jenner interrupting the silence, indicating the rifle the doctor was holding.

Some people turned to look at him but most of the others looked at Jenner.

"I thought I'd familiarise myself since there were more than plenty left lying around." Jenner replied and looked back at him, "But you all look harmless enough…except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you." he continued and looked at Carl who slowly grinned back at him.

The remainder of the journey was quiet again after that and the doors opened a couple minutes later once they reached their destination, Jenner walked out instantly and the group followed behind him.

He led them along a hallway and they all glanced at their surroundings as he did, Eilidh however just walked slowly along at the back of the group with Daryl somewhere behind her, she was too busy thinking about the blood test that was mentioned until her eyes caught movement up ahead, it was Sophia, the little girl grabbed onto her mother's hand and held on tight.

Eilidh's mind then wandered back to that woman and child they passed outside, from what she'd seen there was no sign of any walker bites on them...they were executed.

A woman and child, probably coming here to this building believing it would be safe and they would get help, yet, they were killed anyway.

Carol's voice interrupted her thoughts, "Are we underground?"

"Are you claustrophobic?" Dr Jenner asked after a beat.

"A little bit." Carol replied.

"Try and not think about it." he told her and continued walking along the hallway until they came to an open doorway.

He led them through and it was a huge room that was filled with computers, "Vi, bring up the lights in here." Jenner said and then bright lights suddenly came on, "Welcome to zone five."

"Where's all the staff? The other doctors?" Rick asked him.

"You're looking at it." the Dr said eventually.

"What about Vi?" Lori asked after a beat of silence fell over them.

"Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner said.

"Hello guests." A female voice said over the room, it was a computerised voice.

"I'm all that's left...I'm sorry." Jenner said and then he walked past them, back out the way they had came in, "If you'll follow me, I'll get your blood tests done and out of the way."

Eilidh closed her eyes and sighed after he said that, her chest was tightening at the thought, she followed the group that followed Jenner nonetheless, they walked into a room that they had passed on the way to the room that had the computers in it.

The Dr waited until everyone was inside before he spoke, "Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be right back."

Once he left the room most of the group took a seat and sat in silence, Eilidh didn't move, she stood in the one spot and spoke in a quiet voice, "Glenn."

Glenn had been about to sit down but stopped when he heard her say his name, he turned to look at her, "Yeah?"

"...I can't do this." she whispered.

"What?" he asked and moved towards her, he looked confused at first but then his face softened, "What's wrong?"

She stared at him for a long moment and then she glanced at the single desk at the front of the room where Jenner would no doubt sit them down to take their blood, she shook her head at the thought of being on display infront of everyone, "No...I can't do it."

"Can't do what?" he asked her.

"The blood...the needle, I can't." she replied quickly, her voice quiet.

"You don't like needles?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"I can't...I can't have him do that, I...no." she mumbled and folded her arms across her chest with one of her hands pressing hard against the crease of her right arm, "If that means that I have to leave...then so be it."

"What? No Eilidh, god, you're not going anywhere." Glenn said with a brief smile that said 'don't be crazy', he then put a hand on her back and said, "That's out of the question."

Dr Jenner then stepped back into the room with a plastic box in his hands, he set it on the front desk and started to put a pair or rubber gloves on, "Who's first?"

"What if some of us are afraid of needles?" Glenn asked and everyone turned to look at him, including the Dr.

"Like I said to your friend before about about being underground, best to try and not think about it." he replied and then started to take out sealed packets from the box.

"What if we can't just not think about it?" Eilidh asked quickly, the desperation must have been obvious in her tone as everyone's attention was suddenly on her and some of them were even looking at her with sympathetic expressions after realising that it was obviously her who had the problem.

"Really try." the Dr said after a beat, his expression was too one of sympathy.

Eilidh shook her head and leaned against the wall as she mumbled under her breath, "Yeah, it's that easy."

"I'll do yours last." the Dr said and then he began to wave people towards him, everyone went to him willingly without argument and it didn't take him long to get through everyone, Eilidh paced most of the time.

Andrea was last of the group to get blood took before it was Eilidh's turn and as she was sat in the chair Eilidh had began biting her thumbnail and she moved back and forth more frequently, Daryl's voice then suddenly broke the silence in the room, "Will you quit that?! It's annoying."

"Shut up." Eilidh replied as she watched Jenner take Andrea's blood.

"You seam tense, is there something particular that you're worried about?" The Dr asked her and everyone looked at her, she glanced at each of them before replying.

"I think we've established that I'm not exactly crazy about this whole...idea." she said and pointed at the needle in Andrea's arm.

"I meant which part don't you like...is it the needle, is it the blood?" the Dr said.

"All of it." she told him and stopped pacing to lean against the wall again.

"It's not the bad." Andrea said with a sigh.

Eilidh could only see the back of the her head but she knew the blonde was rolling her eyes, she ignored her and focused on the Dr, "Why do we even need to do this? If any of us were infected we'd have a fever."

"I've already broken the rules letting you all in here...forgive me but, I want to be thorough." he replied as he glanced around the group, he then removed the needle from Andrea's arm, "That's you done, careful..are you okay?" he said to Andrea as she stood up, she wobbled and had to hold onto the table for support.

"She hasn't eaten in days, none of us have." Jacqui told him as she appeared to help Andrea walk back to her chair.

"Is that so." Jenner said after a beat, "Well...there's plenty of food in the cafeteria, I'll show you where it is after we're finished here."

Most of the group smiled at each other and laughed at the mention of 'plenty of food', Eilidh walked towards the Dr and spoke in a low voice so only he could hear whilst her friends were distracted.

"I can't have them in here, can you show them where it is first?" she said and he stared at her for a long moment, she pleaded with him further with her eyes.

"In fact how about I show you all where it is just now? The ones that have been done can head along instead of waiting." Jenner said as he stood up and Eilidh sighed in relief.

"We can wait." Rick replied and Eilidh turned around.

"It's fine, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." she told him and the rest of the group.

"You waited with us." Glenn said to her and she shrugged, the Dr walked towards the doorway.

"I don't mind, it's fine, go on...I know how hungry you all are." she said and sat down in the seat across from Jenner's, her heart was beating so fast and she didn't want the group to see her have a meltdown, she added in what she hoped was an enthusiastic voice, "Get some food on the go."

After a beat of silence and what she imagined was also a silent discussion Rick spoke, "We'll start getting something made for you."

She then felt his hand on her shoulder where he gave her a pat, she nodded with a smile and he headed towards the doorway that Jenner was now outside of, the group then followed him out of the room until only Glenn and Daryl were left.

"Go on." she told them, Glenn more than Daryl.

"You sure you don't want me to stay?" Glenn asked as he made a move in her direction.

"She said go Chinaman." Daryl practically growled as he shoved Glenn towards the door.

She turned in the seat so she once again had her back to them and she heard Glenn say to Daryl as they went, 'I already told you I'm Korean'.

That made her smile.

o

Jenner appeared back in the room a few minutes later and sat down across from her, he put a new pair of gloves on and said, "Right then...before we do this, tell me, what's your name?"

"Eilidh." she replied and he nodded.

"Eilidh." he repeated then he grabbed both her wrists, she gasped and tried to pull free from his hold, "Are you bitten?"

"What?" she asked as she struggled against him.

"Tell me the truth. Are you bitten? Is that why you didn't want your friends here?" he demanded from her.

"No." she told him through gritted teeth after a beat and he stared at her, for a long moment, he stared.

Eventually he let go of her wrists and she sat right back in her seat and rubbed them whilst glaring at him.

"I had to ask, you were acting suspicious." he told her.

"Suspicious?" she asked.

"You were, everyone else in your group was fine with it but ever since it was mentioned you've been acting jumpy." he replied.

"Because I dislike needles." she said firmly and he stared at her again, "And tell me, what exactly did you hope to achieve by grabbing my wrists?"

"I wanted to feel your skin, to see if you were hot...and I know that it's not uncommon to meet people with needle phobia's, being a Dr I've met plenty of them." he said a moment later.

"But?" she asked as she waited for him to go on.

"No but, I'm just curious why you didn't want your friends here, they could have supported you, held your hand through it." he answered.

"I didn't want them to see me upset." she told him as she played with her fingers absentmindedly in her lap.

"I believe there's more to it than that...I just have a feeling." the Dr said and she shook her head.

"There's no more...look, can't you just take a urine sample from me? Please." she replied.

"No, I'd rather not, blood sample's are quicker and I've done everyone else the same way." he said to her and she sighed.

"I'd rather not have it done." she said sadly.

"I won't hurt you...it'll be over in a matter of minutes, you can even do it yourself if that helps?" he replied and she looked up at him.

"Myself?" she asked.

"I'll set it up and you can extract the blood." he said with a nod.

"Can I put the needle in myself too?" she asked and he screwed up his face.

"That really is what I have to do, plus you'll struggle to do it yourself." he replied to her.

"I won't...please, I...I need to do this, I have...I've never had a good experience with these." she replied.

The Dr watched her thoughtfully for a moment before he offered, "How about you hold the needle with me as I put it in? That way you can have control of it."

Control.

That word put her mind at ease, she would be in control.

She found herself nodding as she thought about it, "Yes...okay, let's do that."

"Great, now...let me set your arm and the equipment up then you can put it in, sound good?" he asked her and she nodded, he then quickly got everything sorted before he brought the needle out of its packet.

She started to take deep breaths, in and out, in and out.

"Relax." The Dr said and she looked away from the needle to him, "Make a fist for me."

She did as he said and he nodded his head and moved his hand holding the needle towards her arm, he stopped when she tensed and looked at her.

"Now?" she asked him and he nodded, she closed her eyes briefly and then reached for the needle in his hand, he kept a hold of it when she pinched the top of it.

"Okay, push it in slowly." he told her and she shook her head.

"I'm not ready yet. I need a minute." she replied quickly and he didn't push her, he just waited.

The same sound kept appearing in her head, the sound of her screaming, it was drowning out her senses and making her hands shake.

She thought she heard her name somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn't make it out clearly though, it sounded too far away.

"Eilidh." the Dr's voice was suddenly loud and clear, her eyes shot to him.

"What?" she asked after a beat.

"I said your name a few times and you didn't respond." he replied with a look of concern on his face.

"...sorry, I was miles away." she said and swallowed.

"...are you feeling okay? Dizzy or anything? Becuase I noticed you have an injury on your head." he said and pointed at the top of her head.

"No I'm fine, really I was just...thinking about something." she replied.

"I had to take the needle from you, you were shaking badly and almost hurt yourself." he told her and then raised an eyebrow, "Can't have been anything nice that you were thinking about."

She stared at her arm for a moment and then tightened her fist once more, "I'm hungry...let's get this over with. I'm ready."

The Dr stared at her before he shrugged, "Okay, let's try it again, go slowly okay and relax."

She nodded her head and repeated what she had done before, this time she focused on her breathing and ignored the sounds as best she could, she pushed the needle in slowly and then gasped, it was in, just like that...it was in, she removed her hand from it and stared.

"There you go, well done." the Dr said with a smile.

She didn't smile though, her heart was hammering inside her chest and she felt herself breaking out in a sweat as she looked at it in her arm, panic started to rise within her again at that, there was a needle in her arm.

"Now it's just a quick extraction then you can join your friends." he Dr said as he prepared the next part of the test for her, "Ready when you are."

She nodded her head quickly and grabbed the extracter from him as she squeezed her eyes closed, it was best to get it over with.

"Easy! Don't do it too fast." the Dr told her and she slowed what she was doing down a little, "That's it."

She stopped after he said that, "That's it? Already?"

"I only need a little." he replied and removed the needle from her arm.

The relief she felt quickly dissapeared when he placed a cotton bud against the small mark on her arm, she stared at the small ball of white fluff like it was something disgusting and she would have ripped it away but a band aid appeared and covered it so that it was hardly visable anymore.

She took a deep breath when she no longer seen it and then she stood up, she instantly felt light headed when she did.

She placed her palms flat on the table and inhaled slowly.

"Take it slow." The Dr said as he cleaned the desk up and placed her sample with everyone else's, "I'll show you the cafeteria."

She moved away from the desk, one step at a time and took deep breaths.

"Do you need a hand?" the Dr asked and she shook her head as she followed him out of the room and along the hallway, gradually her slow steps picked up until she was walking casually beside him.

She heard the group before she saw them as she and the Dr approached a door that led to a large area filled with desks and chairs, there was also a small kitchen.

The Dr mumbled something beside her then disappeared as she stepped into the room, when she appeared the group greeted her warmly, most of them anyway, Daryl was sitting on a chair with a wine bottle in his hand and he was frowning when he saw her.

"Eilidh, finally." Dale said from the table the group were sat at.

"Oh honey you don't look good." Jacqui said from the kitchen where she was preparing something for eating with Lori and Carol.

"I'm alright." Eilidh replied and smiled at them all.

"She's right sweetie, come and have a seat. I'll get you something." Lori said and ushered her forward to sit at the table, she walked towards it and took an empty seat beside Shane.

"Bud." Shane said to her in greeting when she was seated next to him, she gave him a nod.

"There's some soda, Jenner said we should have something sugary after the test." Lori said as she appeared beside her and placed a glass infront of her.

"Thanks." she replied and took a sip from the glass, she could feel her light headedness begin to subside a little.

"You were a while in there, was everything okay?" Lori asked before she walked back to the kitchen.

"Fine, I was just nervous." she replied and Lori nodded.

"There's a biscuit for you to nibble on too Eilidh, the dinner won't be ready for a little while yet." Carol said as she walked towards the table where Eilidh was sat, she accepted the biscuit and took a small bite.

O

Not only had there been food, there was a lot of food, they had eaten until all of them were complaining of sore stomach's because they were that full.

There was also a lot of alcohol too.

Their spirits had been sky high as they devoured the huge meal that Carol, Lori and Jacqui had prepared for them.

"You know in Italy and sometimes France, children have a little wine with their dinner." Dale said as he poured Lori a glass.

"Well when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some." She replied with a hand over his glass, Rick then protested with a laugh suggesting their son should have a little to try it and Lori eventually agreed.

Daryl had continued drinking more wine throughout dinner and now he was onto a bottle of Whiskey, he also didn't show any signs of stopping either.

Carl, to no one's surprise, didn't like the wine, his face was priceless and he had everyone laughing, even Daryl made a small noise that resembled amusement.

"You should stick to soda pop there bud." Shane said to Carl with a smile but it quickly vanished as he looked down at his empty plate.

Eilidh had waited until she had eaten some proper food before she took a glass of wine herself and a few glassed later she was starting to slightly feel it's effects, she looked down at the red liquid in her glass and swirled it around slowly, she liked the shapes it made as it moved, she felt content watching it as she was slouched in her chair.

"Not you Glenn." Daryl's voice grabbed her attention, she looked up and saw he was pointing across the table at Glenn who was looking at the bottle of wine in his hands, he was clearly debating with himself whether to have any more to drink or not.

Upon hearing his name Glenn looked up and then across at Daryl, he smiled as he glanced around the table, the alcohol was visibly having an effect on him, Eilidh smiled back at him when he looked her way.

"What?" he said to noone in particular, that goofy smile still on his face.

"Keep drinking little man, I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl said to him and he screwed up his face so that he resembled Glenn.

Everyone around the table laughed at that including Glenn himself, he looked at Eilidh and made a drunken face as he laughed, she smiled back at him and turned her head in Daryl's direction.

He seamed to look over at her too as she did and they stared at one another for what felt like a long time and before she realised what she was doing she had downed what was in her glass and gotten up from her chair to walk over to where he was sat, her stomach tingled from the wine as she went.

Once she reached him he looked at her expectantly and she held her empty glass in his direction with a raised eyebrow; she was surprised to see him smile at her.

"Think you can handle it?" he asked.

No, she thought.

"Daryl…..I'm Scottish." she said and rolled her eyes in a 'get a move on' kind of way.

His smile disappeared but she could tell he was amused still, he nodded and filled her glass up which she proceeded to clink against his before she turned and walked back to her seat.

She regretted her decision as she walked, even in a wine glass she could tell that what he poured her was a LOT of whiskey.

She didn't drink whiskey, her grandad had given her some to try one Christmas and she had been ill the rest of the night.

She sat back down and looked at the glass in her hand, she would have to drink it because she could feel him watching her, she'd felt his eyes on her the whole way back to her seat, with what she hoped was an unreadable face she put the glass to her lips, the smell was making her stomach tingle again and it wasn't the nice kind this time.

She took a sip of the liquid and her eyes widened at the taste, she put the glass on the desk and swallowed.

Her throat burned and her eyes were suddenly watery as the alcohol ran down her throat, she could see Daryl out the corner of her eye, his body was shaking in a way that told her he was laughing, she closed her eyes briefly and turned in her seat so he wouldn't see her red face.

"I don't think we've thanked our host properly." Rick said in a loud voice and effectively silencing the noise around the table, everyone then toasted to Jenner who sat on his own behind them quietly.

"Thank you." Rick said and Jenner nodded in response.

"Booyah!" Daryl shouted and raised his bottle in the air, the group laughed at him.

"When are you going to tell us what the hell happened here Doc?" Shane said in a demanding tone and the laughter and smiling the group had just been doing instantly disappeared, "All the other Doctors, the ones that were figuring out what happened...where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane, this can wait till tomorrow." Rick said to his friend.

"Whoa hold on, isn't that why we're here, no? This was your move man, to find the answer but instead…we found him." Shane replied with a short humourless laugh and he pointed at Jenner, "We found one man. Why?"

"When things got bad a lot of people left…they went to be with their families and when it got worse, when the military got overrun…the rest bolted. Many couldn't face walking out of the door so they…opted out. There was a rash of suicides...that was a bad time." Jenner said to them after a beat of silence.

"But you're still here, you didn't leave…why?" Andrea asked the Dr.

"I just kept working...hoping to do some good." He replied.

The room was very quiet after that, uncomfortably quiet.

"Dude, you are such a buzz-kill." Glenn said to Shane as he got up from where he was sitting.

O

Jenner showed the group where they'd be sleeping after they had all finished the drinks they had, the good mood had taken a diminish after the Dr told them what happened.

He led them along another hallway similar to the one they walked down when they first stepped out of the elavator, this hallway had rooms on either side of it.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing so you'll have to make do here, the couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you prefer." he told them as they walked, he stopped and turned to look at them, "Oh if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

The group looked around each other opened mouthed after the Dr disappeared and left them standing there.

"Did I hear…hot water?" Eilidh asked them.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog replied to her and the group with a smile, they then each moved to choose a room, there was enough for everyone but some people decided to share.

Eilidh chose a room next door to Glenn who was sharing with T-Dog, she put her bags on the ground when she stepped inside and then she sat on the couch that she'd be sleeping on, she let out a sigh of relief, it was very comfortable.

"Knock, Knock." Glenn said appearing in her doorway with a beaming smile.

"Hey there." she said as she sat up.

"How cool is this?" he asked her as he stepped inside.

"Really cool." she agreed.

"I think everyone is heading back to the cafeteria to drink some more once they've showered, you up for it?" he said to her.

"Are YOU up for it?" she replied with a laugh, Glenn was barely standing straight.

"Yes, I think so." he said and laughed with her.

"I suppose I'll come for a bit and I'll shower when I return." she said as she stood up.

"Alright." Glenn replied and wandered out of her room, she followed him with a grin.

"Eilidh's coming." T-Dog voice said from suddenly behind them.

"That's right." she told him..

"You sure you can put anymore away?" he asked her.

"Seriously, what is with everyone thinking that I can't drink?" she asked with a frown.

"Hey, it's just cause you're like a little girl." T-Dog said with his hands up.

"Excuse me, I might be small but I am more than capable of holding my drink, like I told Daryl earlier." she replied but was cut off before she could finish by Daryl himself.

"Told me what?" he asked as he walked past the three of them towards the cafeteria.

"I told you…I'm Scottish, so of course, I can handle whatever alcohol you people offer me." she continued to Daryl's retreating form.

He turned around to face them and said before he took a drink from the whiskey bottle that was in his hands, "That sounds like a challenge."

"It might be." she replied and took the bottle from him, she cringed at what she was about to do and surprise crossed his features as she did it, she took a long drink from his bottle of whiskey, the same whiskey that she didn't like.

She swallowed whilst shaking her head before she handed it back to him.

"See?" she said to them in and almost stumbled at the foul aftertaste.

Daryl shook his head before turning and walking towards the cafeteria, she looked at Glenn and T-Dog before she followed him.

o

Eilidh, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl had sat in the cafeteria for around twenty minutes before anyone else came in to join them and eventually the whole group came along.

They all spoke about a number of things including what they missed, what they didn't miss.

Carol, the kids and Lori left after around fifteen minutes and Rick had disappeared shortly after that to go and speak with Jenner.

After he went, everyone apart from Glenn, T, Eilidh and Daryl then left.

"Okay Eilidh…since you keep bragging that you can hold your drink." T-Dog said attempting and failing to do an impression of her accent.

"I don't keep bragging." she interrupted and he shushed her.

"She can't." Daryl said as he took a drink from his bottle and she frowned at him.

"My point is...that must have taken some practise?" T-Dog continued.

"Of course it did." she replied after a beat.

"Come on then…tell us a story." he said with a laugh and looked at Glenn who nodded with a smile.

"I don't really have any interesting stories to tell." she said with a grin.

"Come on, there has to be a least one." T-Dog replied.

"Not that I can think of." she said with a shrug.

"Tell." Daryl said and she looked at him, he was staring intently at her.

She glanced around the men before sighing, "Alright fine, let me think...one time in school I was invited to a house party, it was on a Thursday night. Now, I don't know about here but where I'm from at school we have this test that we sit, it's effectively an exam and we use it as a fallback if we are ill or something on the day of the actual exam...I went to this party and got...very drunk, the worst I had ever been." she said and she couldn't help but laugh as she thought back to that night, it had been fun.

"Anyway, the test I mentioned, I actually had one the next day...a maths one and it was at nine thirty. I think I got roughly an hour and a half of sleep after that party and when I woke up I had to rush to school to make it on time...I was still drunk and I wasn't suble about that either...it's a miracle that they even let me in to sit it! My body had gone that heavy way and I wanted nothing more than to sleep but I fought against it, I had to..…I got a B." she said and grinned at the last part.

"No way. You sat your MATHS exam drunk and got a pass?" Glenn said in disbelief.

"That's right...on my way out I was warned by one of the teachers that if I ever pulled a stunt like that again he would make me rip my own paper up." she replied and the men laughed and each raised their bottles to her.

"Nice job." Daryl said to her and she looked across at him, the corner of his mouth lifted and he gave her the tiniest of smiles.

"Thank you." she said and stood up to bow to them, Glenn and T-Dog laughed, "Okay boys I must leave you now."

"Giving up already?" Daryl teased.

"Nope but there is a hot shower waiting for me and a comfortable sofa that my exhausted self is dying to lie on." she replied and gave them a salute before she walked off in the direction of her room.

o

When Eilidh had first stepped into the shower she just stood under the hot water unmoving with a smile on her face, it was the first shower she'd had in months and she was more than willing to take full advantage of it.

She washed and conditioned her long hair three times, digging her fingers in to massage her scalp each time, she even used a razor to shave her legs and other body parts so that her skin was as smooth as a baby's.

She was greatful for the water that ran into her eyes as she had done her legs because that way she didn't have to look at the brusies that were spread over her inner thighs and be reminded of how they got there, she did cut her skin a little a few times in the hurry to get it over with but as long as she couldn't see she didn't care.

She must have been under the water around thirty minutes before she decided to come out and when she did she wrapped her hair up and dried off her extremely wrinkled body slowly with the softest towels she had ever had the pleasure of touching.

Once she was dry she put on her underwear, threequarter trousers and a loose crop top, she then brushed her teeth over and over again until one side of her mouth nipped and she tasted blood.

She pulled the towel from her now damp hair and let it hang down across her shouder, she then looked closely at her reflection in the mirror, she was never heavy or fat before but she'd definitely lost a huge amount of weight.

She was happy to see that the majority of the bruises and marks on her face were gone now also so the group wouldn't ask her any questions about them, they would have to peer really closely at her face to see anything.

She eventually stepped away from the sink and swayed around a little as she did, she waited a beat before she decided to move again and leave the bathroom.

She carried her dirty clothes in her arms along the hallway to her room and when she opened the door she stopped in her tracks, Daryl was lying on her makeshift bed for the night with another full bottle of whiskey in his hand.

He'd been showered she could tell, he wasn't dirty like before and his hair was damp, he was barefoot and wearing a clean pair of trousers with another one of his trademark check sleeveless shirts.

Neither of them said anything, she was just stood in the doorway and he was on the sofa, it then suddenly dawned on her that she was staring.

Of course she'd noticed his muscly arms and how handsome he was before but she'd never seen him freshly showered, free of the dirt and sweat, she'd never been able to appreciate it.

"Wrong room Dixon, drag your drunk ass up and off you go." she said after clearing her throat, she then stepped into the room and opened the door wider for him to go.

"You said you weren't giving up." he said as he sat up and shook the bottle in his hand.

"I know. I said I was showering then going to bed which is what I intend to do." she replied.

"Have another drink with me." he said ignoring her as he stood up and walked slowly towards her.

She froze as he stopped infront of her; he was extremely close and he smelled like clean, like soap...it was nice.

Her heart begin to race as he reached an arm behind her but all he did was shove the door closed, "You take ages in the shower."

He walked back the way he'd came and dropped back down on the sofa, she continued to stand where she was.

"Yeah well, it's the first I've had in a while." she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and menatally chastised herself for not wearing something that would cover her stomach.

He patted the seat on the sofa next to him.

"I'm quiet tired." she told him after shaking her head.

"No…you're a chicken." he said with a slight slur.

"No I'm tired and you're drunk, you will have a hell of a hangover in the morning." she told him.

He laughed, actually...laughed, "Come on Scottie, don't give me excuses."

She stood silent for a moment, hearing him laugh made her stomach flutter and she liked it.

"Fine." she eventually said and walked towards him, "Give me that." she grabbed the bottle when she reached him and took a mouthful.

"Yeah, don't get greedy now." he replied and grabbed the bottle back from her, she was glad because the taste was still awful.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down next to him then he leaned back, she did the same after a beat and muttered, "No chance of that."

"Why, because you don't like it?" he asked and she glanced at him, she hadn't intended for him to hear her.

"Yeah." she admitted with a sigh and he made a noise that told her he found that amusing.

"Knew it." he said as he took another swig.

"So…is there any particular reason why you're here? Apart from making me drink more of that horrible stuff." she said after a silence fell over the room and shuddered at the thought of the alcohol.

"You're Scottish, how can you not like whiskey?" he grunted before he asked and she shrugged.

"It's never really appealed to me." she replied.

"Well it does to me and we are gonna play 'I never' so you're drinking it." he said immediately.

"I never?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Surely you've heard of that?" he said and rolled his eyes.

"Well yeah but...you want to play it? " she asked, surprised that he would even suggest such a thing.

"Why not, nothing better to do." he said sitting up.

"It's a game...people play games to have fun." she replied with emphasis on the word fun as she sat up with him.

"Why do you think I suggested it?" he said as he rolled his eyes again.

"Well you don't exactly seam like type to have fun." she replied.

"I'll start...I've never gone a week without showering." he said, ignoring what she had said and she looked at him as if to say, 'are you serious?'

"Really? That's what you're starting with?" she asked.

"I'll be easier to get drunk this way." he said as he took a drink before passing her the bottle. She rolled her eyes again and then reluctantly took a sip, "You're already drunk."

"Your turn." he said ignoring her yet again.

"Okay…I've never…...been in handcuffs." she said with a grin and he shrugged before taking a drink.

"I've never fired a gun." he said with his own grin and drank again before passing the bottle to her.

"You need to at least try, I know we're doing obvious but come on." she replied as she took the bottle from him.

"I told you what my aim was." he told her and then pointed at the bottle she was holding, she sighed and then took a sip.

"I've never…wanted to kill someone?" she asked with a shrug and took another quick drink.

"Now you're playing the game." he said and drunk once she passed him the bottle, "And walkers aren't people anymore."

"I wasn't talking about walkers." she replied immediately and he stared at her.

Eventually after a long uncomfortable silence passed between them she looked at her foot, she seen him watch her for a moment longer before he examined the bottle in his hand.

"My turn again...I've never...kissed a woman." he said and she looked up to see a brief smirk before he took a long drink.

The bottle was becoming empty quick she noticed and she figured that Daryl was now being greedy, she held her hand out for the bottle and his eyebrows shot up.

"No you haven't." he said as he slowly handed the bottle to her.

"Spin the bottle." she replied with a smile and took a sip.

"Spin the bottle? You've played spin the bottle? Man...that's a game I've not played in years." he said in a low voice.

"High school...senior year." she said as she thought back to the last and only time she played it.

"We should play it." he said after a beat and she stared at him, her brows pulling slowly together as she tilted her head to the side in a silent question, he nodded his head.

"There is...only two of us." she eventually managed to say.

"I know." he answered immediately with an expression on his face that told her he was serious.

"Okay I think...we should call it a night." she replied and stood up, he mimicked her movements.

"Chicken." he whispered, his face inches from hers.

"I'm not…a chicken." she replied a beat later, unable to take her eyes away from his lips.

"Prove it." he said to her.

She stared up at him with her heart pounding inside her chest, for a moment she just stood before him practically unmoving until she forced herself to smile and then let out a short laugh as she said, "You're drunk."

She turned away from him but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back around to face him, she gasped and looked up at him with wide eyes as she was now flush against his chest.

"That group from the city." he said to her after a beat of silence and she sighed dejectedly, she didn't want to think about them, "When I heard you talking to Glenn...and then what you said about them to me at camp…...I got mad." he finished with a deep frown on his face.

"Don't get mad." she whispered to him and without thinking, all rational thoughts from her head were gone as she reached her hand up towards his face, "I used to get mad because of them."

He stared at her, silent, his body was frozen.

"Your forehead creases and...you get these lines when you're mad." she said in a slight daze as she traced them with her finger tips.

He grabbed her wrist and she gasped at the sudden movement, he stared at her for a beat before he shoved her hand roughly away from him, it caused her to take a step back and as she did she began to apologise but stopped herself.

"Go to bed Daryl." she told him with an annoyed sigh.

He stared at her for what felt like hours but in reality it was only a few long seconds before he eventually shook his head and walked off out of her room cursing something under his breath as he went, he made sure to take the bottle with him too, he slammed the door loudly behind him.

She stood where she was for about a minute watching the door, why did he have so much bloody mood swings she thought before she got into her bed for the night.


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

Hi guys, so sorry for the lack of updates, I'm terrible.  
College has been keeping me busy at the moment but I'm going to try and keep the updates regular for you all. :)

* * *

Eilidh's eyes shot open with a gasp and she sat bolt upright on the sofa she had been sleeping on, she was drenched in a cold sweat and her breathing was erratic.

She placed a hand over her rapid beating heart briefly before she moved it to her forehead which had pieces of her hair stuck to it, her eyes started to dart around the dark room as she checked to make sure that she was still safe in the room of the CDC, she was relieved to find that she was when her eyes landed on the doorway that had the light from the hallway shining through the bottom a little, her eyes then fluttered closed as she began to get her breathing back under control.

After a moment of just sitting still she moved so her legs were hanging over the edge of the sofa, she then leaned forward, put her head in her hands and rubbed her face whilst shaking her head.

Every single night her slumber was disturbed by the same nightmare, she wished she could dream of something else, ANYTHING, but it was always the same one she had.

Eventually she sat back up and inhaled slowly, as she was exhaling she felt her body relax some which was a relief and her breathing was almost back to normal at last.

She reached for the small table to the side of the sofa and felt around for the little battery powered lamp, when she found it she pressed it on and the dark room was no longer.

She made a move to stand up and grimaced at the cold wet patches she felt against her skin as she did, she then touched her cheek with the back of her palm and felt that her face was very hot.

She moved towards her room door and opened it as quietly as she could, it made a very small creek as she did but that was all, she headed down the silent hall towards the bathroom and when she reached it she pressed the light on and opened the door.

She gasped with fright as she stepped inside when she saw Shane was sat on the floor beside the toilet, he squinted his eyes at her and brought a hand up to shield them from the light.

"Shane, sorry, I didn't realise you were in here." she said and made a move to walk back out of the room but stopped when he said 'It's fine' and she turned slowly back to look at him, she hesitated before she spoke to him again, "Are you okay?"

"Never better." he replied and brought the bottle she hadn't noticed that he had by his side up to his lips, he took a long drink before setting it back down, she stared at the bottle for a moment then looked at him.

He looked from her to his bottle then back at her before he asked in a slightly slurred voice, "Care to join me?"

"No...thanks, I just wanted to wash my face...if you don't mind?" she replied and he gestured to the sink with his free hand, "I'll be gone in a minute." she added and moved towards it.

She turned the cold tap on and began splashing the water over her face, she smiled when the water touched her skin.

"Your back is soaked." she heard Shane say as she continued to wash her face.

She paused briefly from what she was doing before she shook her head, she then turned the tap off and reached for a towel that was hanging up, she dabbed at her face gently before she turned around to look at him sat on the ground, he was looking her over curiously.

"I forgot to turn my air conditioning on in my room...bad mistake, it gets very hot without it." she explained and he gave her a skeptical look, one that told her exactly what she herself was thinking, he was a cop and she was a terrible liar.

"Really." he replied, it wasn't a question, he then brought the bottle back up to his lips and took another swig, she began to head for the door swiftly but was stopped in her tracks again when he said, "Sure you don't want a drink? You look as if you could use one."

She turned and looked at him and found him holding the bottle towards her, she shook her head and said, "I'm sure...are you sure you need anymore?"

"And then some." he answered with a smile.

"You look as if you've had enough." she replied and he shook his head.

"Not nearly enough." he answered and she stared at him for a short moment.

"Why are you drinking? Couldn't you sleep?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I've not been to sleep yet." he smirked and her eyes widened at that statement but more at what she spotted when he moved his head.

"What's that on your neck?" she asked with furrowed brows after noticing the red marks on his skin, "Is that...scratches?"

His smirk instantly disappeared and he turned his head so she could no longer see the marks, "It's nothing."

"That's not nothing." she said and moved to kneel down infront of him, she gripped his chin in her hand and turned his head away again, "Shane. What happened?"

"I told you. Nothing." he told her firmly and her eyes widened at the disturbing thought that entered her mind.

"Were you scratched by a walker back at camp?!" she whispered after letting out a gasp.

"No! Christ." he said as he tried to swat her hand away.

"Thank god, that scared me...oh they look painful." she said as she moved his head aside once more.

He suddenly took a tight hold of her wrist and moved her hand away from his neck, "I said it's nothing alright."

"Not alright, you need to put some cream on, it'll help." she replied and moved away to look in the mirror cabinet, "There's bound to be something we could put on it."

"Will you stop? It's just a damn scratch." Shane practically snapped at her, she turned around to face him again and a silence filled the air for a moment.

"How did it happen?" she asked after a beat.

"I don't know, I must have done it when I was asleep." he muttered.

"You told me that you haven't been to sleep yet." she replied and crossed her arms over her chest, he sighed in annoyance.

"Well I must have dozed off when I was here...what exactly are you getting at Eilidh?" he said and she shrugged.

"I'm not trying to get at anything...it just looks weird that's all." she replied.

"Well it's not. Now, are you done in here? Can I go back to drinking in peace?" he said and frowned at her.

She waited a beat before answering, "There's a tube of cream on the shelf there that will probably help, you should use it...and as for the drinking, you should sleep that off now...you'll have a horrible hangover in the morning."

Shane smiled at her but it wasn't a sincere one, "Did you always act like this...before? You're a young woman yet you're here playing the mom role."

"I don't need to be a genius to know that something is bothering you and trust me...drinking isn't the way to deal with it." she replied instantly.

"Really? With the world the way it is right now you're telling me that it's not the time to have a drink?" he asked and then laughed humourlessly.

"We're in the CDC...hopefully we'll get some answers...THEN you can drink." she replied and headed for the door.

"Hold up." Shane said as she had her hand on the door handle, she looked over her shoulder at him, "What's the story?"

"Story?" she asked and he nodded.

"Your story...and I'm not talking about the bullshit one you told us back at camp...I'm talking about the real one." he replied and her mouth popped open.

"That bullshit." she said with emphasis on the last word, "Happened to be the truth."

"Oh really?" Shane asked with a raised brow.

"Yes. Really." she said with a frown.

"There's more then, you just haven't told any of us." he said and pointed the bottle at her in an accusing sort of way.

"What...you think I'm hiding something?" she asked him and he nodded.

"Why haven't you told us anything about yourself?" he asked and she smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.

"I haven't told you anything more that what I did Shane because we were a little busy, you know with the whole going back to the city to get Merle, coming back to walkers attacking the camp, Jim getting bit, coming here...there just hasn't been that much time to sit down and have a proper heart to heart, know what I mean?" she replied and rolled her eyes.

"Then lets have one now." Shane said and patted the ground next to him.

"No thanks, I'd rather not." she said in a firm voice and pulled the door open, "Get some sleep."

She closed the door behind her and switched the light off, she stood against the door for a moment and let out a sigh before she headed back to her room.

Once she was back in her room she climbed back onto the sofa and lay down, she then switched the light off and stared ahead at the wall across from her, blocking the conversation she'd had with Shane from her mind she closed her eyes and attempted to get some more sleep.

O

The next morning after Eilidh had woken up she dressed in clean clothes and then headed to the cafeteria after hearing chatter coming from that direction, when she entered she saw that most of the group were in there, some were sat at the table and there was a lot of groaning...mostly from Glenn.

"Eggs guys, they're powdered but hey, I do them good." T-Dog said as he walked towards the table with a frying pan.

Eilidh sat across in the seat across from Glenn who had been hit with an extremely bad hangover, he was sat with his head hung over his plate with a hand supporting it.

"Protein helps the hangover." T-Dog said to him as he placed an egg infront of him, "Do you want some Eilidh?"

"Yes please." she replied and he headed back towards the kitchen, Carol came towards her and handed her a cup of coffee, "Thank you."

"Don't ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn groaned and Eilidh smiled at him as he looked at her, "Don't you feel bad at all?"

"Only a little but that because where I come from, we've been drinking since birth." she replied as she took a sip of her coffee and some people around the table laughed.

"Here Glenn." Lori said and handed him some pills, "Jenner thought we could use some."

"Hey." Shane said to the group as he appeared in the room.

"Hey, do you feel as bad as I do?" Rick said to him.

"Worse man." Shane replied as he helped himself to some coffee.

"What happened to your neck man?" T-Dog asked Shane before he wandered towards the table with his frying pan and Glenn groaned loudly as he leaned over him to put eggs on Eilidh's plate.

The scratches on Shane's neck were redder and angrier looking than what they had been when Eilidh saw them earlier that morning, he shrugged and then said to T-Dog, "Must have done it in my sleep."

Eilidh looked at her plate with raised eyebrows, so he was going with that story was he.

"I've never seen you do that before." Rick stated.

"Me neither, it ain't like me at all." he replied and Eilidh saw him look over at Lori who had quickly busied herself with her own cup of coffee and was looking anywhere but at Shane and at that moment understanding hit Eilidh, could it have been Lori that scratched him?

"Must have been some nightmare." she said to him unable to stop herself and he turned his attention towards her and stared as if he'd just noticed she was there, she saw him bite his lip for a second and then he released it from his teeth with a nod.

"Yeah." he agreed with her before taking a drink of his coffee, she continued to stare at him until Dr Jenner appeared in the room.

"Good morning all." the Dr said to them as he headed over to the coffee machine.

"Morning Doc, listen, I don't mean to slam you with questions." Dale said after everyone greeted him.

"But you will anyway." the Dr finished for him with a smile.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said hushing everyone around the table just as Daryl then walked slowly into the room, he headed straight for the coffee machine and began filling a mug.

Eilidh looked down at her plate and took a bite before she looked up and when she did her eyes met his, he looked even grumpier than usual and making eye contact with her only seamed to make him worse as a scowl appeared on his face.

"Enjoy your breakfast first then I'll take you to zone five." Dr Jenner replied simply.

Eilidh tore her gaze from Daryl's to look at the doctor who had a distant look on his face as he sipped his coffee.

o

Once everyone had their breakfast they all followed Jenner to the zone five he had mentioned, it was a large room filled with computers and there was a giant screen on the furthest away wall.

"Give me playback of TS-19." he said aloud as he was typing on one of the computer keyboards and Vi, the femal computer voice from the day before repeated his command and seconds later what looked like an MRI scan only much more advanced with a virtual brain in the centre appeared on the screen.

"Few people got the chance to see this...very few." Jenner told the group as they gathered around him, Eilidh stood to his left and stared up at the screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked him.

"Yes. An extraordinary one." the Dr answered him seriosuly, "Not that it matters in the end…take us in for EIV Vi."

"Enhanced Internal View." Vi said a second later.

The image of the brain flashed with different lights and the camera zoomed right into it, everyone wathced the screen curiously.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked the Dr.

"It's a person's life, their experiences, their memories. It's everything. Somewhere in that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light...is you. It's the thing that makes you unique and human." Jenner replied to them with a smile.

Daryl was the first of the group to say anything, he walked towards the Dr and stopped beside Eilidh, "You don't make sense ever, do you?"

"Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages...they are everything that a person says, does or thinks...from the beginning until the end." Eilidh said in response to Daryl and she felt everyone's eyes on her.

"Yes, that's right." Jenner replied and smiled at her in an approving way.

"Death? What, this is a vigil?" Rick asked and walked towards Jenner.

"Yes. Well it's the playback of the vigil." Jenner said.

"This person died?" Andrea asked, "Who were they?"

"Test subject nineteen...someone who was bitten, infected. They volunteered to have us record the process…Vi, scan forward to the first event please." The doctor said as he gazed up at the screen.

"Scanning to first event." Vi said and the image on the screen changed, the brain stem began to darken considerably.

"What is that?" Glenn asked and Jenner turned to him.

"It invades the brain like meningitis...the adrenal glands haemorrhage and the brain goes into shutdown followed by all the major organs." the Dr replied.

The brain faded black and the person stopped moving as the Dr finished speaking.

"Then death." Eilidh finished for Jenner and he nodded.

"Everything that you ever were, or will be…it's just gone." he said with a sigh.

"Is that…what happened to Jim?" Sophia whispered to her mother across the room, everyone heard her, her mother nodded slowly.

Jenner went to speak to Andrea after she turned away sniffling and Eilidh leaned against one of the desks, whatever Jenner was showing them, she had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to have a good result.

"Vi scan to the second event." Jenner said as he walked back to where he had been previously.

The screen loaded up once more, "The resurrection time varies; we had it happening in as little as three minutes, the longest we heard was eight hours but in the case of this patient, it was two hours…one minute...and seven seconds." Jenner said whilst watching the screen.

The playback showed red lights suddenly sparking from the stem and Eilidh pushed away from the desk and walked towards Jenner slowly as if in attempt to somehow to get closer to the screen.

"Is it...restarting the brain?" Lori asked.

"The brain stem, just enough to get them…up and moving." Eilidh answered as she watched the patient's body begin to twitch.

"Exactly." Jenner said beside her and she looked at him to find him staring at her.

"But…they aren't alive?" Rick asked.

"You tell me." Jenner said and turned to look at Rick before he pointed at the screen.

"That's nothing like before. Most of that brain is...dark." Rick replied.

"It's lifeless…dead, there is no thinking, no judgment, no desire and there is definitely no distinction between what is right and wrong...with these brains the only function is-" the Dr said.

"To get up and go. The animalistic instinct to move….to survive." Eilidh finished for him and he looked over at her once more then nodded.

"Yes." he replied with a sigh.

Eilidh turned her head when she felt eyes on her and found that Daryl was watching her with his brows pulled together.

"The frontal lobe, the human part? That does not come back, the YOU part is gone, all that is there is just a shell driven by a mindless instinct." Jenner said loudly to them and brought Eilidh's attention back to the screen and as her eyes fell upon it there was a sudden flash going through the brain and that was it, it was once again dark and unmoving.

"God! What was that?" Carol asked with a gasp.

"The patient was shot in the head. You shot them...didn't you?" Andrea answered.

Everyone looked over at Dr Jenner expectantly and he looked down without answering, not that they needed an answer, "Vi, power down the main screen and all of the workstations."

Vi repeated what he'd commanded and did just that, the screen and the computers all turned to black, there was a brief silence in the room until Andrea broke it.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" she asked and walked towards the doctor.

"It...could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal-" Jenner began but was cut off.

"Or the wrath of God?!" Jacqui snapped and stared at Jenner wide eyed.

He nodded, "There is that too."

"Somebody has got to know something...somebody somewhere HAS to know." Andrea said to the Dr.

"There are others right? Other Facilities with people like you?" Carol asked and Jenner looked over at her.

"There may well be…may be that there is some people like me." Jenner said, he seamed to struggle with what to say to them.

"You don't know? How can you NOT know that?!" Rick asked as he walked towards Jenner.

"It all went down, everything, the communications and directives…it went down. I've been in the dark for almost a month now." Jenner replied.

"So it's not just here? There is nothing left anywhere. Nothing." Andrea said, "That is what you're really saying right?"

Jenner was silent along with the rest of the group as they waited on an answer from him that never came.

"Man. I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk...again." Daryl said and walked over to lean his elbows on a computer and rub his head.

Eilidh, feeling suddenly distressed, walked towards Jenner, "Dr Jenner." she said to him and he looked at her, she swallowed before she continued, "What about…overseas, the…the UK?"

Everyone in the group upon hearing her question turned their heads to look at her and the Dr.

"Do you…do you know if." She struggled to speak and looked down at her feet briefly as she tried to form the words before she finally whispered, "Do you know if...is this thing really global?"

The Dr didn't have to say anything; the look he gave her was all the answer she needed, tears formed in her eyes instantly and she put a shaky hand up to her mouth, "I'm sorry…they were one of the first that we lost contact with." he confirmed her fear.

She closed her eyes briefly and then stepped back feeling like she'd been slapped in the face, hearing the truth was harder to take than she had thought it would be, she stood where she was for a long moment with her heart pounding just staring ahead until she felt a hand take hers, she looked down and found Sophia gazing up at her.

"I'm sorry." the child whispered to her and she felt the tears that had been threatening begin to roll down her cheek, she bit her lip and then blew out a breath.

"I am too." Carol whispered as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Eilidh was scared to open her mouth to reply incase her cries escaped so she simply nodded.

"Dr Jenner." Dale's voice spoke to the Dr from across the room after a moment of silence had passed, "I have one more question for you...that clock over there has been counting down ever since we came in here...what happens when it reaches zero?"

Eilidh and the others looked up at the clock and then at Jenner who hesitated before he answered, "The basement generators...they run out of fuel."

"And then?" Eilidh demanded from him as he began to walk away, he was hiding something, they all knew it.

The Dr ignored her question and continued to walk off, she looked over at Rick, his facial expression told her that he wanted to know aswell.

"Dr Jenner." he said firmly but the Dr didn't stop, he continued to walk until he was out of the room and they were left there, "Vi what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Vi said, her voice echoed thoughout the room, the group looked around one another feeling uneasy.

"Facility-wide decontamination?" Carol whispered by Eilidh's side, "What does that mean?"

Eilidh had an idea what it could mean but she didn't want to say as Sophia was still holding her hand.

"It's not good." she whispered back to Carol who looked at her questioningly.

"Shane what do you say we check out this basement?" Rick said to his partner.

"I say that's a good idea." Shane replied and began to walk away out of the room with Rick.

"We'll come with you." Glenn said indicating himself and T-Dog.

"I'm uh, going to my room." Eilidh said removing her hand from Sophia's and stepping away, "I'm okay." she added when she noticed that Carol was about to ask, "I just need to be alone for a bit."

Carol nodded and Eilidh then walked quickly away.

o

Eilidh slammed her room door closed and got on her knees, she began furiously throwing the clothes she had lying around into her duffel bag whilst wiping her tears away with her arm.

Her door then swung open, she jumped with a gasp and looked over her shoulder, she groaned and turned back to her bag.

"What do you want?" she demanded annoyed.

"Ouch." He said feigning hurt and she scoffed, "That's not very nice."

"Ha. Coming from you?" she said over her shoulder.

"Why are you packing?" he asked after rolling his eyes.

"I asked you first!" She snapped with a sniff as she turned her back to him and continued to pack.

He sighed, "You rushed off, came to see if you'd be…opting out? That's what the Doc called it right."

She turned to face him with her mouth open, why would someone, even Daryl say such a thing, "What? Are you serious?" she asked slightly offended and he shrugged.

"Are you?" He asked.

"No! I didn't rush back here to try and kill myself." she snapped.

"Well why are you packing?" he asked.

"Why not? You heard Jenner…this place is a bust, might as well get out while we can...plus." She replied as she turned back to her bag once more, she zipped it up and stood to place it on her sofa.

"Facility-wide decontamination will occur." she said quoting Vi, "I don't want to be around when that happens."

"When what happens?" he asked.

"I'm not 100% sure exactly but I know it's not good...the definition of decontamination is...to cleanse." she replied.

"So...bad?" he asked and she nodded.

"Bad." She repeated.

"I'm going for a drink." he said after a beat and turned to leave her room, her mouth opened to speak but no words came out.

"Now is not the time to drink Daryl." she eventually managed to say to his retreating form, "You need to get ready to leave this place!"

Daryl's reply to her was to keep walking and wave a hand dismissevely, without looking at her, she shook her head and watched him go, just then the hum from the air-conditioning stopped.

She turned around and looked up at it on the wall with furrowed brows then moved towards the switch on the wall, it was definitely switched on, she turned it off and waited a few sconds before switching it back on but there was no change, the room was still silent.

She walked towards the wall the air conditioner was on and reached up to put a hand against it but the cool air still wasn't coming from it.

"Eilidh?" Lori's voice called out from the hallway.

"In here." she said back as she stepped away from the machine, Lori stepped into her room a second later just as the lights went out.

Both woman gasped in surprise at the sudden darkness, Eilidh walked towards Lori and spoke.

"What's happening?" she asked just as everyone appeared from their rooms, Jenner was walking down the hallway at that moment also.

"Why are the lights in our room off? And why has the air-conditioning stopped?" Carol asked and he walked by as if she hadn't even spoken.

Daryl hung out of his room with a fresh bottle of whiskey in his hand, "Why's everything turning off?"

Jenner walked past and took the bottle from his hand after he spoke, "The energy needs to be prioritized." he said and then he took a drink.

Eilidh joined the group that was now rushing after Jenner down the hallway.

"Uh, air isn't a priority? And Light?" Dale asked.

"It's not upto me, zone five is shutting itself down." Jenner replied.

"Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl said, "Hey man, I'm talking to you, how's it shutting itself down? How can a building do that?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner said simply.

Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog appeared at the bottom of the stairs as the group walked down them.

"Jenner, what's happening!" Rick demanded from him.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power, it's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second, that started as we approached the half hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner replied and continued walking.

The group followed him back to the room where he had shown them the scan of TS-19.

Everyone was confused and scared, Jenner stopped walking and took a large drink from the bottle before he handed it back to Daryl who snatched it from him making some of it splash onto the floor.

Jenner turned to Andrea, "It was the French."

"What?" she asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know, they thought they were close to a solution." He told them.

"What happened?" Eilidh asked and Jenner turned to her.

"Same thing that's happening here…same thing what happened in-" he said and cut himself off before he finished the sentence and Eilidh swallowed as an unwanted picture started to form in her head, "There's no power grid, it ran out of juice. You know…the world runs on fossil fuels, I mean, how stupid is that?" the Dr continued.

Shane started to walk towards Jenner, he was angry, "Let me tell you-" he began but Rick pulled him back.

"To hell with this Shane I don't even care, Lori grab our things, everybody come on, we're leaving. We're getting out of here right now!" he shouted and everyone started to move.

An alarm started blaring with red lights flashing in the room and the group stopped.

"What's that?" Shane shouted over the noise.

"Thirty minutes to decontamination." Vi said over the alarm and the clock appeared on screen.

"What the hell is going on here doc?!" Shane growled, "Y'all heard Rick, get your stuff and let's go now!"

Just then there was a loud metallic noise and Eilidh seen a door rise up sealing their exit.

Rick stopped infront of it and then turned to Jenner.

Glenn stared wide eyed, horror-struck, "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" He shouted to everyone in a panic.

They ran back into the room, Lori grabbed Carl and pulled him close to her.

Eilidh was stood unmoving on the spot in disbelief, "What?" she said in a quiet voice to herself and looked around the group, her eyes found Daryl on her left, his teeth were clenched and he was staring at Jenner in a way that told her he was extremely furious.

"Daryl! No-" The words were out of her mouth before she realised it and she was grabbing at his arm but she wasn't quick enough, he slipped from her grasp and was running towards Jenner, she quickly followed him whilst shouting, "Daryl! Someone grab him!"

"You son of a bitch!" he shouted as he ran around the computers like an animal ready to kill it's prey.

"Shane!" Rick shouted to Shane after he heard Eilidh and saw Daryl charging at Jenner, "Shane!"

"You locked us in here!" Daryl shouted at Jenner as he approached him.

"Stop!" Eilidh shouted at Daryl as some of the group just managed to move out of his way before he smashed into them.

Shane managed to grab onto him just in time before he could do anything to Jenner.

Daryl grabbed at Jenner still by the shirt and pulled; he had tried to take him down but only managed to pull him away from the desk a little in his swivel chair.

T-Dog, Eilidh and Glenn all ran over to help Shane hold Daryl back.

"You locked us in here!" He shouted loudly again.

T-Dog and Glenn grabbed his arms and his shirt in an attempt to hold him back.

"Don't do it!" T-Dog said loudly over his shouting at the Dr.

Eilidh held a hand against his stomach and chest, "Stop it Daryl!" she had shouted at him and then she looked over at Jenner to see him straightening out his lab coat.

"Jenner, you open that door now." Rick said to the doctor.

"There's no point! Everything topside is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed." Jenner said to him.

"Well open the damn things!" Dale said.

Jenner shook his head and spoke to Rick, "That's not something I control, the computers do. I told you, once that front door closed, it stays closed. You all heard me say that...it's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked him and glanced up at the clock, "What happens in twenty eight minutes?"

Jenner turned to his computer and ignored him, Rick then looked at Shane who had left T-Dog, Glenn and Eilidh to hold Daryl, he had moved forward and hit that back of Jenner's chair hard whilst demanding, "What happens in twenty eight minutes!"

Jenner shot up from his chair, "Do you know what this place is? We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" he shouted at everyone, "Weaponised smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff that you don't want getting out EVER!" he continued to scream at them.

Everyone was stunned into silence at his outburst, Daryl had managed to shrug out of the hold Glenn, T-Dog and Eilidh had on him and was walking around the area with his eyes never leaving the doctor.

Jenner sat down on his chair and fixed his coat and tie casually.

"In the event of a catastrophic power failure..in a terrorist attack for example...HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

Eilidh's breath caught in her throat, she sat down and put her head in her hands for a second before she spoke to the Dr, "HIT's?"

"...yes." he replied with a firm nod.

The group glanced back and forth between her and Jenner questioningly.

"Eilidh what is it…what are HIT's?" Rick asked her and she looked up at him but she couldn't answer; she shook her head and rested it back in her hands.

"Vi, Define." Jenner said.

" _HIT's: high impulsive fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired." Vi said and as she spoke everyone began to panic, Carol cradled Sophia close to her and cried out._

"It sets the air on fire… no pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything." Jenner said slowly and almost everyone stared at him in disbelief.


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

* * *

Daryl threw his bottle of alcohol at the steel door in exasperation, "Open the damn door!" he shouted at Jenner who ignored him.

Shane grabbed an axe that he found in the room and ran towards the door, he held it in the air and shouted, "Out my way!"

"Daryl!" T-Dog shouted and threw him another axe so that he could help Shane attempt to get the door open.

Eilidh walked over to Jenner and knelt infront of him, "Dr Jenner please...open the door. Let us out of here." She begged him.

"Why? There is nothing out there, all you're going to endure is pain and suffering. You'll try to survive and you might...for a while but you will lose every last member of your group in the process." He said to her.

"Let us try. We have all survived this far already and we don't want to give up now, we want to live…please just let us out so we can try." she pleaded some more.

"You shouldn't have come here." Dr Jenner said quietly and rubbed his forehead before he inhaled a deep breath and added, "This is a better end, it'll be so much easier this way."

"Easier for who?" Lori snapped at him.

Eilidh stood up from where she was knelt and walked over to lean on a desk whilst she rubbed her own forehead.

"For all of you, you know what's out there you've seen it...it's just a short brutal life and an agonizing death...your sister." he said and then turned to Andrea, "What was her name?"

"Amy." she replied quietly.

"Amy…you know what this does...you've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?" he said and turned to Rick.

"I don't want this!" Rick said back.

Shane came over and hung over a computer beside Eilidh out of breath and Jenner looked at him and said in an weary voice, "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."

Daryl came running over with the axe in his hand after the Dr had spoken, he swung it back and shouted, "Your head ain't!"

"Whoa! Daryl!" Rick shouted and he Dale, Shane and Eilidh all grabbed at him, T-Dog managed to pull the axe out of his grip before he could use it on Jenner.

"Back off!" Rick shouted at Daryl and pushed him backwards in the chest.

Jenner stood up unfazed by Daryl's threatening behaviour and moved towards Rick, "You do want this, last night you said that you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

Rick looked over at Lori and Carl after Jenner spoke, Lori's mouth was open in shock and she was shaking her head at her husband.

"What? You really said that? After all of your big talk?" Shane asked Rick.

Rick looked around the group and said, "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope! There never was!" Jenner shouted.

"There is always hope!" Rick shouted back at him, "Maybe it won't be you and not here, but somebody, somewhere!"

"What part of everything is gone do you not understand?" Andrea asked him.

"Listen to your friend, she understands...this is what takes us down...this is our extinction event." Jenner said with a sigh.

Eilidh heard crying and looked over towards Carol, "This isn't right…you can't just keep us in here!" she sobbed.

"One tiny moment, just a millisecond...no pain." Jenner said in a calm tone trying to convince her.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" She shouted back at him.

"Wouldn't it be kinder and more compassionate? For you to hold your loved ones as you die, just waiting for the clock to run down?" he asked her.

"That is not up to you to decide. You're not their family…who the hell are you to say it would be more compassionate!" Eilidh snapped at him.

Everyone turned at the sound of a gun cocking, Shane came running towards Jenner with his shotgun.

"Shane no!" Rick said and tried to hold him back.

"Out of my way Rick!" he said and continued towards Jenner, he put the barrel of the gun on the doctor's face, "You open that door or I'm going to blow your head off do you hear me?!"

Eilidh stood beside Shane; he had a murderous look in his eye.

"Brother, this is not the way you do this, you do it and we'll never get out of here." Rick said in Shane's ear.

"You listen to him Shane! If he dies we ALL die." Eilidh said firmly in his other ear.

Shane then suddenly started to scream whilst pushing the barrel into Jenner's cheek, Rick tried to get the gun off him but Shane shook him off and turned the gun to the side.

He began firing into the computer screens, Eilidh ducked out of the way and covered her head just in time as glass and sparks started to fly everywhere, after a moment of covering her head she peaked up and saw that Rick had wrestled with him and luckily managed to get the gun from him; he knocked him to the ground beside her and was stood over him.

"Are you done now, huh? Are you done?" he asked his partner.

"Yeah…I guess we all are." Shane said back and Rick walked away from him to hand T-Dog the gun.

Glenn came over to Eilidh and offered her his hand; she glanced at Shane lying on the ground to the side of her staring up at the roof before she took Glenn's hand and slowly stood from her crouch.

Rick looked around each face of the group before he turned to Jenner and said, "I think that you're lying."

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying about there being no hope, if that were true I think you would've bolted with the rest and taken the easy way out but you didn't...why would you choose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter." Jenner said and turned away from him.

"It does matter, it always matters...you stayed when others ran. Why?" Rick asked again.

"Not because I wanted to…I made a promise." Jenner said and stood up, "To her. My wife."

He pointed at the screen harshly.

Eilidh looked at him and asked, "Test subject 19 was your wife?"

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could...how could I say no?" he replied and Eilidh stared at him before she glanced over at Daryl who was banging on the door with the axe still.

"She was dying and it should've been me on that table, it wouldn't have mattered to anybody if it was me but HER...she was a loss to the world! Hell, she ran this place here I just worked here...in our field, she was an Einstein but me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner, she'd the one that could've done something about this...not me." Jenner said sadly.

"But your wife didn't have a choice…you do…that's all we want." Rick said as he looked around the room, "A choice...a chance."

"Let us keep trying for as long as we can." Jenner looked over at Lori as she spoke, she held Carl in her arms tightly.

The Dr looked around them all and was silent for a long moment before he eventually said,"I told you the topside's locked down, I can't open those."

Eilidh watched as he walked over towards one of the computers, he scanned his card and pressed some numbers and then the door to the exit suddenly opened.

Daryl turned to everyone and shouted, "Come on!" he then ran out the doorway out of sight.

Glenn and T-Dog ran the way Daryl had just gone, Glenn turned and shouted back to Eilidh, "Come on! Let's go!"

The rest of the group then ran towards the door and in the direction of their rooms to grab their belongings.

Eilidh walked towards Jenner and whispered, "Thank you."  
"About before, I'm sorry…when you asked I should have been more considerate." He said to her, "But even though I said that the UK were one of the first to go…that doesn't necessarily mean whoever you know didn't make it."

Eilidh was silent for a moment before she replied, "Yeah you could be right…and you could be wrong...either way I'll never know, my family are over 3000 miles across the ocean...and I'm stuck here."

Jenner smiled sympathetically at her and she nodded at him before she headed for the direction the rest of the group had ran in, she glanced over her shoulder to see that Rick was the only person left beside Jenner and he was speaking with him quietly, the Dr was saying something in his ear and Rick looked stunned at whatever he was being told.

"Hey! We got four minutes left come on!" Glenn shouted to everyone with an arm around Carl near the doorway and that dragged Eilidh's attention from Rick and the Dr, she began to run through the doorway but she stopped instantly when she heard Jacqui protesting to T-Dog about leaving, she wanted to stay.

"Jacqui." Eilidh began to speak and took a step back towards her but Jacqui shook her head.

"Just go honey." she said to her and turned away from the group crying.

Eilidh stood still and stared at Jacqui's back, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, Jacqui was choosing to stay behind.

"Come on now." Shane leaned a hand on her shoulder and said in her ear, she turned her head and looked at him miserably, he nodded his head whilst moving his hand to wrap it around her upper arm and pull gently, "I know but we can't stay, we have to go now, we're running out of time, understand?"

She nodded at him and jogged off after he gave her a little pull then a push in the direction of the doorway, she didn't slow down as she ran she kept going and ended up running right into Daryl in the doorway of her room.

"Ow!" she said as she bounced off his chest and he quickly put the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder then shoved her rucksack into her hands.

"Move." he said sternly and shoved her out of the room.

"Come on everyone up the stairs! Let's go!" Shane shouted as he appeared next to Eilidh and Daryl and everyone moved quickly towards the stairs where most of them were running up taking two at a time.

o

Once they had reached the top of the stairs the men tried to open the doors they had came in the previous day.

"It doesn't work!" Glenn shouted as he pushed against the doors.

"Wait a minute! Try it now!" T-Dog shouted after pressing some buttons on the keypad.

"Nothing!" Glenn shouted back and T-Dog groaned loudly.

Shane and Daryl ran up to the window and tried to break the glass with the axes, Eilidh watched in horror as they barely made scratches.

T-Dog ran past her and started to bang the window with a chair furiously but that wasn't working either, she looked at the ground and saw a shotgun, she then put her bags on the ground and picked up the gun.

"T-Dog! Get out the way!" she shouted as she walked up the small stairs to the window, Shane picked up his own shotgun and followed her and then stood beside her, "Aim for the same spot and we'll fire at the same time."

He nodded his head and they both pointed their barrels at the window, "Now!" he said and they both fired, they managed to make some marks but in no way was it an exit.

"Now what?" Eilidh asked Shane as they dropped their guns to their sides and he shook his head with a sigh.

"The glass won't break?" Eilidh heard Sophia's panicked voice.

"Rick! I might have something that can help." Carol said searching through her bag.

"Carol I don't think a nail file is gonna do it." Shane said dryly and Eilidh frowned then punched him on the arm for being rude, he turned and glared at her annoyed for hitting him but she turned her back on him.

Carol ignored what he had said and continued to look around in her bag, "The first morning in camp when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She held out her hand with a grenade in it and Rick stared at it for a moment before he took it from her.

He held it for a few seconds and exhaled a deep breath before he walked over towards the window, when he reached it he shouted, "Look out!"

Eilidh ran for the small set of stairs and jumped down them onto her knees beside Glenn, they both lay on the ground and watched as Rick placed the grenade on the floor and once he pulled the pin out he ran.

"Get down!" he screamed to everyone right before he was knocked forward off of his feet by the force.

The explosion was extremely loud and shattered the glass of the window they had been trying to break, Eilidh felt the ground tremor when the grenade had gone off and when she looked up from where her head was hidden under her arms she saw everyone was up and running towards the newly created exit.

Daryl appeared above her and leaned down to grab her arm roughly, he pulled her up onto her feet and told her to move, she quickly grabbed her things, gun and obeyed him.

Once she'd hopped out of the broken window she spotted at least a dozen walkers wandering across the grass towards the building after hearing the grenade going off and they were trying to grab members of the group as they ran towards their parked vehicles.  
Eilidh aimed the shotgun she was holding and fired along with Rick, Shane and T-Dog to help clear a path for the rest of the group to get away safely.

Daryl ran ahead of Eilidh and swung the axe he was holding at a walker's head, he chopped it right off it's neck.

Everyone continued to run and fight off walkers until they reached the cars, Eilidh and Daryl jumped quickly into his truck which was at the back of the line of vehicles, he began to start it immediately.

The horn of the RV up ahead honked a few times, Eilidh looked at it then across at the building to see that Dale and Andrea had just jumped onto the grass from the broken window and were now running towards the vehicles, she pointed at them and said, "Daryl look!"

His hand stilled on the key that was in the ignition as he looked where she was pointing, "Oh shit." she heard him say as the RV horn began to honk again, this time it was urgent and constant and she realised why, flames were now appearing from the open window and her eyes widened.

She just saw Dale and Andrea duck down and then she couldn't see out of the car window anymore, she was pressed down, her face squished against the seat of the truck.

"Down!" Daryl shouted as he lay over the top of her and she closed her eyes tightly as the weight of him pushed her down further into the chair.

The explosion was so deafening she was scared that it might burst her eardrums and that was WITH her hand covering the ear that was exposed, the other she couldn't reach because Daryl's body was trapping her arm.

The truck shook violently a few times during the detonation and she was surprised it hadn't tipped over when it stopped or that it hadn't been crushed by any of the tall trees that they had heard creaking loudly as it was exploding.

That blast would attract every walker around for miles and then some; all that was left of the CDC was rubble, black smoke and loud raging flames.

Daryl slowly lifted himself up from Eilidh a little to look out of the front window, she copied his movements and her mouth opened at the sight of the demolished building and the heat she could feel radiating from there.

"You good?" Daryl asked her a moment later and all she could do was nod at him in response.

He sat upright in his seat after that and started his truck once they heard the RV engine starting up after Andrea and Dale who had popped up from behind a wall and were safely inside.

Eilidh leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a second whilst blowing out a breath of relief, when she opened them she saw that the vehicles were making a U-turn and heading in the direction they had arrived from the day before.

That had been a very close call, they almost didn't make it out of the building in time and now they were heading back the way they had came.

What would they do now?


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

" _Come on guys, please." Eilidh said to her brother and sister as they stalked away from her towards the kitchen._

" _Go away!" Sam_ _shouted over his shoulder at her, "Go on, go, leave us! Just like they both did."_

" _I'm not leaving you, I'll be back in no time." She replied as she followed them._

" _Oh yeah sure, you'll be back in no time, you're going away for 2 years, as if you'd come back here!" Skye turned and snapped at her._

" _You're exaggerating, it's 15 months and why wouldn't I come back? Hey!" she said and took a hold of Skye's arm to stop her walking away again._

" _You're going to America Eilidh! Why would you come back to this dump?" Skye replied and shook her arm off._

" _To be with my brother and sister obviously, that's why." She said and moved to step infront of them both, "Look…once I have my degree I'll be back here. I'll get a job and then the three of us are out of here understand? I'm going to take care of you both, we will take care of each other, just like we've always done...this is such a great opportunity for me, I am the ONLY person that got offered this experience."_

 _Sam and Skye were both silent, glancing from her and at each other._

" _I'm not leaving you. Don't ever think that." She continued._

" _Promise that you'll come back." Skye said after a beat._

" _Of course I'll come back." She replied and rolled her eyes._

" _Promise." Sam said._

" _I promise." She told them after sighing._

 _The twins glanced at each other, nodded then turned and walked away from her._

" _Uh…guys?" She said with furrowed brows and stepped forward in the direction they had gone, "Are you still mad at me? I thought that we just worked it out?"_

 _They both suddenly halted once she had finished speaking and stood still._

" _Guys?" she asked a moment later after she had stopped herself but they didn't answer her._

" _You're saying there is nothing left anywhere?" Andrea's voice said from behind her._

 _She turned around feeling confused and saw Rick and their group in zone five at the CDC, she was no longer in her kitchen in Scotland, Dr Edwin Jenner didn't answer Andrea's question and the room was eerie silent._

 _She found herself walking towards the doctor, "Dr Jenner." the words came out of her mouth by them self, "What about the UK?"_

" _It's gone." the DR told her simply and she felt an intense pain stab her in her chest and in doing so it knocked the wind out of her._

" _No." she eventually whispered in response and stepped back._

" _Yes." the Dr said with a nod._

" _Gone." the group said together and then they each repeated the word over and over again seperately, their voices echoed around the large room and made Eilidh's ears hurt._

 _She shook her head at them and continued to step back until a loud moan that came from behind her stopped her in her tracks, the group's chanting came to an abrupt end and they all stared wide eyed over her shoulder, she felt herself starting to well up and she choked out a breath, her heart was hammering against the inside of her chest hard and fast._

 _The moaning kept growing louder and she didn't want to turn around, she was shaking her head against it but she couldn't seam to physically stop herself and found that she was doing it anyway._

 _Her breathing stopped when she saw what the moaning was coming from._

 _Infront of her were her brother and sister, they were stood with their mouths ajar; their beautiful matching hazelnut eyes were now off colour and lifeless._

 _Skye had a huge chunk of flesh torn out of her forearm to the bone and Sam had a fatal bite mark in the crook of his neck, their clothes were both stained with fresh blood._

" _Skye?" Eilidh whispered and Skye twitched where she stood and moaned at the sound of her name, "Sam?" she continued and sniffed._

 _Sam growled a low angry growl and then started to move towards her, Skye snarled then followed him._

 _Eilidh stood frozen on the spot and stared at her brother and sister as they rushed forward in bloodlust frenzy._

" _No." she said with tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks as they both grabbed at her greedily and sunk their teeth into her flesh._

 _The last thing she heard as they ripped into her skin with their cold, dead fingers was the sound of her own piercing scream echoing around zone five of the CDC._

oOo

She gasped loudly and bolted upright.

"What the hell?!" Daryl growled beside her, "You gave me a god damn heart attack!"

She was in Daryl's moving truck, not the CDC or Scotland, it had been a dream, just a dream...but...it had seamed so real.

She placed a hand over her thumping heart as she looked around the truck.

"You almost made me crash." Daryl snapped at her and she looked over at him whilst placing a hand on the side of her face, it was hot and felt sticky, she looked around once more with wide eyes then back at him and she stared.

"What?" he demanded.

She continued to stare at him for a moment and then she turned away and she began to hyperventilate.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked her with a screwed up face a beat later.

What was she doing? She had thought as the hyperventilating picked up some and it was then that she suddenly registered that a single drop of grief had welled up from the corner of her eye, that was all it took, the dam then broke and hot torrents of sorrow coursed down her face, the dream and the reality of what Jenner had said finally hit her and she couldn't bear it.

She sobbed intensely and as she did the hyperventilating also intensified causing panic to set in, there was no inbetween of the two, she couldn't stop either, she grabbed at the truck's open window and held on tightly, she noticed Daryl from the corner of her eye look over at her whilst glancing back and forth at the road.

"Breathe." he told her firmly.

She shook her head as if in some way to explain that she couldn't, she was trying but she just couldn't do it, she felt as if she was going to suffocate.

"Breathe Eilidh!" he shouted at her and then began to rummage through the glove compartment that was infront of her, "Damn it!" he cursed as he slammed his foot on the break pedal and beeped his horn.

Eilidh's body jerked as the truck came to a sudden stop and she glanced over at Daryl as he opened the door and jumped out.

The images of her brother and sisters as rotting corpses lunging for her and eating her alive clouded her vision causing her to weep even more and her breathing to worsen.

Suddenly the passenger door swung open and Daryl was there, he grabbed her leg and pulled so her body moved around swiftly, her legs were hanging over the edge of the seat and out the open doorway, he placed a paper bag firmly over her nose and mouth.

"Breathe!" he commanded and she didn't disobey, she frantically breathed in and out of the bag through her sobs.

His hand stayed on the bag for a while and held it securely in place, not that she needed him to do that, her knuckles were turning white because she was holding on herself so tightly.

Her breathing gradually started to slow and return to its normal speed, as it did Daryl removed his hand and took a step back.

She looked up from the spot on the bag that she had been focusing on the entire time to see that the whole group was standing around the truck looking at her, all with equally concerned looks on their faces, she inwardly cringed then closed her eyes and continued to take slow, deep breaths in and out of the bag.

Eventually she removed the bag from her face once her breathing had returned to semi-normal, let it rest in her lap and sighed.

"What the hell happened in there?" Daryl snapped at her.  
"Back off Daryl." Rick said and walked over to kneel infront of Eilidh, "Feeling okay now?"

She nodded slowly and wiped her face with the back of her hand, "Yes, I just...I must have dosed off...didn't have a very pleasant dream."

"Clearly. It made you have a panic attack." Glenn said whilst looking at her wide eyed and she shrugged then looked at the paper bag in her lap, it said 'doughnuts' on it, that she realised was what the odd smell must have been as she was breathing into it and she dreaded to think how long it had been sitting in Daryl's truck but she was grateful he had given her it.

"You should ride in the RV and have a lie down." Shane said with a nod.

She responded by shaking her head, "I'm fine now, really."

"You were up through the night, that'll be why you fell asleep." he replied, "Ride in the RV...there's a bed."

"I agree with Shane, even if you don't sleep again at least you can have a lie down somewhere that's comfortable." Glenn said and then he looked over at Daryl, "Uh, no offence."

Daryl glared at him in response and then Eilidh nodded slowly, "Okay, yeah...I suppose you're right."

"Okay then. Let's get back on the move." Shane said and walked off towards his jeep, the others slowly began to drift off and follow him.

Eilidh shuffled forward and hopped down from the truck seat, Rick moved towards her and gave her a hand, she was surprised at how wobbly her legs felt.

"I've got her." Glenn told Rick who nodded in response before walking off, Glenn looked at her as he began to guide her towards the RV, "Lean on me if you have to okay?"

She nodded and then halted to look at Daryl who was walking back to his truck, "Thank you Daryl."

"Yeah." she heard him mumble back without looking at her.

o

"What was the dream about?" Glenn asked Eilidh once he had set her down on the bed in the back of the Winnebago.

"It was just a dream." she said with a sigh and then after a beat she repeated it, more for herself than him, "Just a dream, it's not worth retelling." she added in a whisper and stared ahead as she thought over what had happened in her head, her eyes began to water as she did.

"Eilidh?" Glenn said but she shook her head and kept repeating, 'It was just a dream' "Eilidh." he said again, this time louder so that she'd look at him.

She did look at him and then said, "It was just a dream Glenn."

He nodded his head, "Okay...it was just a dream."

She nodded in agreement and bit her lip as a tear rolled down her cheek, Glenn then sat down next to her and asked, "You're not okay...are you?"

She stared at him for a moment then she shook her head sadly, "No…no I'm not." she said and another tear fell, "I'm not okay Glenn."

He watched her for a brief moment as she sobbed before he finally nodded at her, he then put his arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her towards him.

He held her, just held her as she cried quietly on his shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long guys, really I am I have just been so busy with college work recently, I had one final test to do last week and I passed it so everything with college is now out of the way until after the summer, woohoo!

I went on holiday and just got back last night.

The updates will be as regular as possible from now on. :)

* * *

Almost twenty minutes had passed by with Eilidh resting her head on Glenn's shoulder, her sobs had gradually gotten quieter until they eventually stopped as the vehicle moved along the road.

Glenn hadn't spoken that whole time he'd had his arm wrapped around her, he had just let her cry without saying a word, even after she had finally stopped.

"Is there any aspirin?" she asked him at last in a quiet, hoarse voice, "I have a bit of a headache."

She felt him jump a little, almost unnoticeably at the sound of her voice, she then lifted her head from where it lay on his shoulder and looked at him, he offered her a brief smile as he stood up slowly from where they were sat and before he headed away he said to her, "Sure, I'll go get you some."

Now she sat alone in the back of the RV feeling drained, when she caught the sight of her reflection in a small square mirror against the wall oposite her she was a little taken aback at how red her eyes were, she hadn't properly cried in so long.

As much as she tried not to she couldn't help but think about the dream again, what if what happened in her dream really was what had happened to her brother and sister back home, they could have died the day it all started but they could also be alive and surviving just like she was right now, who knows, back home might not even be as bad as it was here...it was bad though...she knew that, she was just in denial.

"Here you go." Glenn said appearing in front of her a some moments later with a half bottle of water and some aspirin in hand and effectively interrupted her thoughts, she took them from him and downed them immediately.

"Thank you." She said to him after she had swallowed the water and he gave her a nod in return, there was then another silence after that moment and Eilidh just knew he was waiting for her to explain what had caused the episode in Daryl's truck but she didn't want to explain it, she didn't want to think about it ever again.

"How are we doing for gas?" she asked him to talk about anything other than herself and he shook his head casually.

"Not too great, we're going to have to stop soon." he replied.

"Great." She said dryly and Glenn then tilted his head slightly and stared at her, "...what?"

"What happened Eilidh? In the dream you had…I've never seen you like that, I was really worried about you, I still am." He said to her quietly.

"That's because you don't know me Glenn." she said immediately in a sharp tone and she regretted it instantly because Glenn's face fell and he looked hurt by what she'd said.

"...alright then." he replied a few moments later and then there was a long silence between them both that followed after that, he folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window behind her head and she looked at her feet.

"Look...I'm sorry...there's nothing for you to worry about okay? I'm fine now and as much as I appreciate your concern I really just want to forget that it happened, I'm already embarrassed that everyone witnessed it." She finally said with a sigh and he remained silent for a bit before he nodded.

"Fine, you get a pass for now but sooner or later you are going to tell me. I'm not letting this go." He told her seriously.

She shrugged at that and gave him a brief half hearted smile right before the RV slowly began to come to a halt, she stood up from where she was sat and headed towards the front of the vehicle behind Glenn.

"Let me guess...we're finally out?" he asked Dale anxiously when they reached the old man who shook his head at the question.

"It'll be soon and I don't want to risk going any further." He replied and stood up from his seat to head for the RV door, Eilidh and Glenn followed him outside and they were gradually met by the others just at the bottom of the steps.

"I think now is the time to stop and properly think about our journey ahead and we should save the gas that we have and look for some more, this looks as good a place as any to start...we don't want to get stuck somewhere without any." Dale said to the group once they were all within earshot.

"That sounds like a good idea." Rick agreed.

"Got a plan?" Shane asked his former partner after nodding in agreement also.

"I think we should take only some of the cars, the RV definitely and maybe one more...Daryl, you're using more gas with Merle's bike in the back of your truck." Rick replied after nodding his head at Shane.

"I ain't leaving my brother's bike behind." Daryl said firmly.

"Well then you leave your truck behind, it's your choice, don't care which just make a decision." Shane replied instantly and Daryl narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'll leave my van and siphon the gas from it." T-Dog told the group and Rick nodded at him.

"We should maybe strip the cars that we're leaving behind, just incase we need parts later on." Glenn suggested and the group agreed.

o

It was decided that T-Dog, Shane and Daryl would each leave their vehicles behind.

Daryl would be using Merle's motorcycle from now on and the others would be travelling in Dale's RV and Carol's car.

Fort Benning was their new destination since the CDC turned out to be no good, it was 125 miles away.

Eilidh was stood leaning against the RV while she and the group waited on the men siphoning fuel from the cars they were leaving and cars that were around the area they had stopped in, mostly all of them had moved their belongings into the RV already.

She turned her head to the side and caught sight of Daryl walking towards her, his face was surly like it usually was whenever he was around her.

She straightened herself up from where she was stood and turned fully towards him, he stopped a few feet away and threw her cap towards her.

"Was in the truck." He said after she had caught it and then he turned and headed towards his motorcycle, she looked down at it in her hands and then put it on her head.

"Thank you." She called after him a beat later and it wasn't just for returning her hat, he didn't respond though or even acknowledge her, she watched him as he made his way towards his bike and then her eyes found Shane who seamed to be staring ahead at something, his expression distant.

She followed his gaze; Lori and Rick were packing up Carol's car with their things and were settling Carl in a seat in the back of it, Lori then turned towards Rick and gave him a long kiss before climbing into the car herself.

Rick turned his head and smiled at Shane with a nod, Eilidh watched as Shane quickly smiled back and duck his head a little.

"Let's go Eilidh." Glenn said appearing at her side, "We're ready."

He then climbed the RV steps and disappeared inside the vehicle, she swiftly followed him.

o

Glenn and Eilidh had shared the passenger seat beside Dale in the RV on the journey to Fort Benning, they were both guiding him together with the map that they had laid out on the dash infront of them.

"Oh no." Dale said as they appeared on a highway that was severely blocked for miles by hundreds of abandoned vehicles, he slowed right down until he came to a stop and Daryl drove on ahead of them to weave through the cars before he disappeared out of sight up ahead, everyone inside the RV watched anxiously for him to reappear and a moment later he did.

He rolled up on the bike next to Dale's window and the old man asked, "Is there any way through it?"

Daryl nodded and turned his bike around whilst indicating with his head for Dale to follow and he did, slowly and cautiously.

"Maybe we should just go back, there's an interstate bypass-" Glenn spoke as he traced back the road they were on with his finger on the map.

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale said cutting him off instantly as he moved the wheel slowly.

Eilidh watched as they passed car after car after car, almost every vehicle's doors were wide open indicating a quick exit from their passengers.

There were dead families inside a lot of the vehicles and Eilidh swallowed then looked at the map to distract herself as they passed by.

"Man…can we really get through here?" Glenn asked and before he had finished speaking the RV started to clatter and smoke appeared from the front of it and they couldn't see anything infront of them.

"Ah damn it." Dale groaned and stopped the RV, he got up from his seat muttering and headed for the door, the group inside followed him out onto the road infront of it.

"I told you didn't I, dead in the water." Dale moaned.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asked him once he was out of the RV.

"We're stuck here and our path is totally blocked that's the problem! We're also low on supplies and fuel and we've still got a long way to travel." Dale replied and stopped speaking abruptly when Daryl yanked open the trunk of a car near them and started to search through it loudly, everyone watched him as he picked up a shirt and threw it over his shoulder.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find here." he told them whilst he picked up some things to examine them.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog stated with a grin.

"We could use some water, we might find it here right?" Carol asked.

"Or food." Glenn added in a hopeful tone.

"This is a graveyard." Lori said silencing them, everyone then looked around each other, guilt was evident on most of their faces, Lori was right...this was a graveyard.

However, as if she hadn't spoken, Daryl resumed his scavenging and T-Dog moved slowly towards a car nearby and examined it's fuel cap.

"Have a look around guys, let's gather what we can." Shane said to them all with a nod.

Eilidh looked over at Lori who sighed and then looked around at the abandoned cars, Rick appeared at her side, placed a hand on her hip and said something in her ear so Eilidh looked away from them both, her eyes found Glenn who looked at her with raised eyebrows, a silent question for her to help him to which she nodded in response and followed him until she saw Rick out of the corner of her eye suddenlly step away from his wife.

"Just a sec Eilidh." he said and she slowed to a stop and watched Glenn continue walking away from her.

"Yeah Rick?" She replied as he stepped infront of her.

"About earlier-" Rick began to say but she immediately cut him off.

"I'm fine Rick, really. Earlier was just…a moment where my emotions got the better of me. I'm okay, don't worry." she told him, Glenn had stopped walking as she was talking and turned back to watch.

She nodded and began to walk past Rick but he moved with her and she had to stop again.

"Does that happen often?" he asked and she shook her head.

"No...actually, that was the first time it's happened...it took me by surprise." she said and he nodded.

"It could happen again." he replied and she shook her head.

"Rick, I don't think so and please, don't waste your time worrying about me, I'm fine...really." she said and moved past him in Glenn's direction once more, she gave his shoulder a pat as she did and was grateful that he didn't pursue her.

"Looks like I'm not the only one that's concerned about you." Glenn said to her as she appeared next to him.

"There are more important things to be concerned about than me Glenn...we're supposed to be scavenging." She told him and made her way over to a car that was next to the RV and walked around to the back of it, Glenn was following her but Dale asked him to help fix the RV so he went to do that instead.

Eilidh stood at the trunk of the car she had approached and pushed the button to open it but nothing happened so she walked around to the driver seat and looked inside, she found what she was looking for almost straight away, the button to open the trunk, it was at the bottom of the door but she was frozen on the spot when she noticed something else...blood on a baby's pacifier that was lying beside the gas pedal on the floor.

She instantly felt a deep sadness at the sight, her heart then started to race and her breathing quickened but before her mind started to produce a picture of why it looked the way it did she shook her head and quickly pushed the button for the trunk, she then stepped back and closed the door.

She leaned her hands against the car window and the roof and closed her eyes briefly, she took a deep breath and after a moment had passed she pushed away from the car and headed for the back once more, when she reached it she opened the trunk and began to search through it, almost immediately she came across a small first aid kit, it was brand new.

In addition to finding the first aid kit she also found a couple of boxes, one had a few packets of peanuts and a small plastic tub with chocolate pretzels inside and another that had 'cans' written on it but that was empty.

She moved on from the boxes and looked through some bags with clothes in them; the first item she pulled out was a child's pink t-shirt, it had a white bunny rabbit nibbling a carrot on it with stars and love hearts around the sleeves, it was the definition of cute.

For a long time she stared at the top in her hands, her heart ached with sorrow and guilt as she took in the size of it, it's owner must have been no more than five or six.

"No." she said and stuffed the top back in the bag she had taken it from, she zipped it up rapidly and shoved it away from her as if it was hot to touch, she then stepped back from the car and placed one hand on her hip and pinched the bridge of her nose with the other.

"Find anything?" A voice came from behind her and she quickly turned to see Shane standing there.

"Uh." She said unable to say what she wanted to at first then she cleared her throat and rubbed her hands together, "Some snacks and a first aid kit, it hasn't been used yet…figured it could come in handy." She shrugged and looked at her feet.

"Good find." Shane said with a nod, "Glenn and I are going off to look for a hose for the RV, could use your help."

"Of course." she replied with a nod and turned to grab what she had found from the car then she walked away with him.

o

Eilidh, Glenn and Shane made their way towards some vehicles they had passed before the RV broke down further back on the highway.

The three of them made sure to be extra cautious when approaching the vehicles they were about to search because walkers had a habbit of appearing out of nowhere.

Glenn got to work immediately on a van they came across, the hood of it was already up, Eilidh began to search a car which was off the road a bit and on the grass and Shane kept watch nearby.

First she looked in the back seats of the car and found rubbish and pieces of a newspaper scattered around everywhere, she didn't have much luck in the trunk where she went next either, there were just some bags of clothes that were no good to really anyone, there were boxes of ornaments and an old TV, she closed the trunk quietly with a sigh and walked around to the passenger door.

"Hey guys…weren't we short on water?" Shane asked Eilidh and Glenn loudly, he was stood by a truck that was behind the van that Glenn was working on, it was filled with large bottles of water, more than enough for their group, Eilidh stared at it in awe and Glenn laughed excitedly.

Shane opened one of the bottles and let the water pour out all over him before he took a long drink from it.

"Save us some man." Glenn said through his laughter and Shane nodded whilst taking another drink.

"It's like being baptised." he said amused to them both.

Eilidh's face broke out in a smile from where she was stood, "It's about time we got a break."

"It is." Shane agreed with a grin as he took a handful of water and splashed it over his face and then he laughed too.

Eilidh turned back to the car she had been searching and then called over her shoulder to Glenn, "You should go and sample some of that water."

"Oh I will, don't you worry, I just need to get this hose out first." he replied to her as he fiddled around inside the hood of the van, she turned her head once more to look at Shane who was gazing at his discovery inside the truck with appreciation and a big smile on his face before he put the cap back on the open bottle.

She turned back towards the car and as she did her eye immediately caught something underneath the driver seat, she leaned over the passenger seat to get a closer look at whatever it was.

"Yes." She whispered when she saw it.

It was a gun, a .44 magnum revolver to be precise, she smiled at the weapon and then quickly looked around to see if there might be any ammo aswell, she opened the glove compartment and her smile widened when she saw that there was indeed ammo, a full box of it, the day was just getting better and better.

"Perfect." She said to herself and placed the box on the seat, she then stretched over to get the gun but it was too far away from where she was to reach, she sighed and adjusted herself to climb inside.

Just as she was kneeling on the seat she felt a pair of hands grip roughly onto her waist and then she was being dragged back and out of the car.

"What the-" She began to say but was stopped when her mouth was completely covered with a hand and she was spun around.

"Shh!" Shane hissed in her ear and she realised instantly that something was bad when she saw Glenn scrambling underneath the van he had been working on.

Shane moved quickly with her in his arms against his chest, as if she weighed nothing and he set her on her feet once he reached the truck and began to push her down by the shoulders, "Quick get under!" he whispered and she did as he said and shuffled underneath the truck beside Glenn.

The three of them were underneath the truck on their fronts staring at the bottom of abandoned cars up ahead, Eilidh was sandwiched between the two men and panic began to build in her when she heard the moans of walkers, a LOT of walkers heading their way, they must have just made it underneath the truck.

She gasped when she saw feet suddenly shuffling along the road towards where they were, Shane signalled for them to get closer together as the walkers were approaching and they did, they turned as quietly as they could onto their sides.

Eilidh was now facing Shane and he must have seen the panic on her face because he held a hand up to tell her to stay calm.

She nodded, squeezed her eyes shut for a beat and exhaled slowly and quietly, Shane's arm reached across her waist to nudge Glenn behind her and she watched him then mouth 'Relax', she had felt Glenn shivering a little against her back and realised he was as scared as she was, she moved her hand behind her and grabbed Glenn's hand in order to help him relax some, he gripped her hand tightly and his shivering subsided a little.

It felt like they had been hiding forever but eventually the moaning gradually disappeared, indicating the walkers were gone or at least far enough away from them that the area could be called safe again.

Shane peaked out from under the truck to check it was definitely clear and then he crawled out, Eilidh and Glenn then followed him and he helped them both out and onto their feet.

She looked down the highway, the walkers were well out of sight now and she looked at the men then sighed with relief but then they heard screams.

She looked in the direction the screams were coming from to see Sophia running off into the woods with two walkers chasing her.

"It's Sophia." She said and began running towards the RV with Glenn and Shane hot on her heels.


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

As Eilidh was running towards the RV she saw Lori grab onto Carol as she tried to run after Sophia just before Shane blocked her view by overtaking her.

"Oh Lori, those walkers are after my baby!" she heard Carol wail a second before she halted next to the RV door.

"Shh! Rick will bring her back." Lori said as she hugged Carol tightly.

The rest of the group soon appeared and all gathered around Carol and Lori as they looked in the direction that Sophia had disappeared but Eilidh couldn't, she was rooted to the spot, she didn't feel it was right to try and comfort a woman who barely knew her as she had only just joined the group less than a few days before, she wanted to go over and tell Carol that everything would be okay but she couldn't do that.

As Eilidh stood there, just away from the back of the group that crowded around Carol who longed to run after her child, she spotted Carl looking heartbroken and helpless across from where she was and she moved towards him, she put a hand on his shoulder as he watched his mother supporting a distraught Carol and at her touch he looked up at her with a quivering lip and watering eyes.

"It's okay." She whispered as she rubbed his shoulder gently and he surprised her by wrapping his arms around her.

He hid his face from her in her shirt but she knew that he was crying, she could feel his body shake and hear him whimpering quietly and that made her chest ache so she placed her own arms around him and held him close to her.

"Sophia is gone and my...my dad is gone too." Carl said after a beat, his voice was muffled but the pain in it was evident.

Eilidh shushed the child quietly as soothingly as possible and she then looked around their group, she noticed that everyone was there except for Andrea, Daryl and T-Dog, "Try not to think about it sweetie."

"Hey little man, you okay?" Shane asked Carl as he appeared next to Eilidh and him, Carl didn't reply he only sniffed.

"He's okay." Eilidh said as she disentangled herself from his hold and bent down to wipe some of his tears away gently with her fingers, Shane nodded before he ruffled Carl's hair softly.

"Let's go and sit inside the RV for a bit, it's safer in there than out here." Eilidh said.

"That's a good idea bud and I'll come in and check on you both in a few, okay?" Shane said and Carl looked over his shoulder at the others who were still gathered around Carol, including his mother, he then nodded his head and kept his eyes downcast, Eilidh straightened up from where she was crouched and held her hand out, Carl took it and she led him towards the RV door.

"Where did Sophia go Eilidh?" Carl asked as she stepped back to let him walk up the RV steps before her and she sighed.

"She ran off into the woods and I'm not-" she began to reply but was cut off from finishing what she was saying when she heard Carl's terrified cry, she rushed inside the doorway and pushed him backwards so he was behind her then she reached for her knife but halted before she pulled it free, "...Andrea?!"

Andrea was on the ground next to the feet of a walker with blood splattered over her face and neck, she was holding an equally bloody screwdriver.

Eilidh looked at the walker where it lay on it's back, it's left eye was turned to mush and there was a small puddle of blood underneath it's head, she looked from the walker to Andrea where she was sat clutching the screwdriver, "Are you okay?"

Andrea didn't answer she only narrowed her eyes at Eilidh, Carl who was holding onto the side of her shirt and trouser leg moved his head to the side and asked timidly, "Is it dead?"

Eilidh was about to reply to him but she caught Andrea's eyes, they shot to Carl and she practically spat back at him, "Is it dead?! Do you think I'd be sitting here if it wasn't?!"

Carl's head instantly disappeared with a whimper back to behind Eilidh and he began to cry again.

"Hey, don't speak to him like that!" Eilidh shot back at Andrea matching her tone and then she turned around to wrap her arms around Carl once more then said in a softer voice, "Shh, don't get upset sweetie."

"What kind of a stupid question it that?! Of course it's dead, I killed it!" Andrea almost shouted and then she threw the screwdriver away so it landed just behind where they were stood.

"Watch your mouth." Eilidh hissed back over her shoulder at Andrea in a warning tone.

"Or what?" Andrea shot back.

Eilidh narrowed her eyes at the blonde before she said, "The walkers that ran after Sophia strayed away from their group and there might be more still hanging around so do us all a favour and shut up."

"Walkers went after Sophia?" Andrea asked with furrowed brows, ignoring what Eilidh had said and she began to slowly get to her feet.

"Yes." Eilidh replied and looked back down at Carl as he clung to her and cried quietly, "It's okay Carl."

"Where's Carol?" Andrea asked as she walked by Eilidh and out of the RV without waiting for a response, when she was gone Carl moved his head back and looked up at Eilidh.

"I asked a stupid question." he said and then cried some more.

"No Carl...no you didn't." Eilidh said as she comforted him, "Andrea was just being...she's just angry right now that's all...it was nothing that you said, understand?"

A beat passed by after that and then Carl's head nodded slowly right before Shane came charging into the RV, "Carl?! Carl are you okay?!"

Eilidh let go of Carl just as Shane bent down on one knee infront of him and grabbed a hold of his shoulders to pull him towards him.

"I'm fine." Carl replied wide eyed.

"Are you sure?!" Shane asked frantically as he moved his hands down the boys arms and moved his head from side to side to examine his neck, he then looked over at the dead walker on the floor briefly before he looked up at Eilidh, "I saw Andrea come out of here covered in blood and I thought."

Eilidh watched as Shane struggled to finish what he was saying, he then let go of Carl and ran a hand roughly through his hair before covering his nose and mouth with it briefly.

"We're fine." Eilidh said after a beat and placed her hands on Carl's shoulders, "Totally fine."

"Thank god...I asked Andrea what happened and she just said there was a walker." Shane said after Eilidh spoke and then he slowly got to his feet after looking at Carl's face intently, "Hey kid...no more of this okay, no more tears, you don't have to be scared."

"He's just worried about Sophia...and his dad." Eilidh told Shane and found herself putting extra emphasis on the last word which got his full attention because his eyes shot to hers and they were wide and intense, his stare actually made her feel as if he was...glaring at her, it caused her to swallow and clear her throat before she gave Carl's shoulder a little squeeze then gesturing to the walker she said, "It was like that when we came in."

Shane's staring continued for a moment then he nodded and before she could realise what he was doing he had reached across to her hip, pulled her knife free from it's holster and wasted no time in moving towards the walker with it, he brought it down on the skull with a tremendous force that it caused it to split.

Eilidh gasped when she heard the crack and found herself covering Carl's eyes with her hands.

Shane seamed to stay where he was crouched unmoving and staring at the piece of brain that was exposed for a long moment before he began to slowly twist the knife.

Eilidh's eyes widened at what he was doing and when she saw blood oozing from the open head she said his name loudly, his own head snapped in her direction and then his eyes glanced at Carl who still had his eyes covered before he pulled the knife free and stood up.

He and Eilidh seamed to just stare at each other for a moment before she raised an eyebrow at him questioningly and then she slowly removed her hands from Carl's eyes, Shane smiled at the child and held the knife up to give it a light shake, "You can never be too sure with these things little man."

Carl's head nodded slowly as Shane appeared infront of him and Eilidh watched as he put her knife gently back into it's holster.

"Thanks." he told her with a nod and then he headed for the door, "Let's go Carl, I don't want you in here with that thing."

Eilidh began to lead Carl out of the RV as Shane stepped back to let them go first, the child tried to look at the dead walker as they went but Eilidh turned his head back to the doorway with her hand.

Groaning suddenly came from between the cars next to the RV as Eilidh stepped out with Carl, she gasped thinking it was more walkers and stepped infront of him once more.

It wasn't walkers, it was Daryl and T-Dog, she let out a long sigh of relief when she saw them, her eyes were glued to Daryl as he moved, they scanned him for any sign of injury quickly and luckily there were none, she felt as if a huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders.

Shane stepped away from beside Eilidh and Carl over to the two men, he helped Daryl support T-Dog who had a huge gash on his arm over to the RV steps.

Eilidh looked down at Carl who had stepped around from behind her to look at T-Dog, there was worry written all over his face.

"Eilidh, what's wrong with T-Dog, did he get bit by a walker? Is he going to be okay?" he asked her quickly and she crouched down in front of him.

"Hey, look at me...I know you're upset about Sophia running off and your dad going after her...of course you are, how would you not be but listen...I am sure that T-Dog will be fine, we can go over and have a look just now and I want you to try and not worry about any of it." she said and gave him a smile and they headed over along with most of the others.

"That's a deep wound you've got there son, we'd better bandage it up quickly, you're losing a lot of blood, someone hand me the first aid kit." Dale said with a sigh and took his hat off to rub his head.

T-Dog was in pain, it was obvious from the way he groaned when anyone touched the outside of the wound.

Glenn had disappeared and returned seconds later with the first aid kit Dale requested, he handed it to the old man and said, "There you go."

"This is it?" Dale asked Glenn as he searched through the first aid box.

"It's all we have left." Glenn replied and Dale sighed before he looked closely at T-Dog's wound.

Eilidh and the others then winced when T-Dog let out a loud groan as Dale lifted his arm, she looked at the old man, "Dale I found a first aid kit ealier…it's small."

"But it's a little more than what we have." He finished for her and she nodded.

"I'll go and get it." She said to the group around T-Dog, "Carl, I'll be back in a second okay?"

"Can I come with you?" he asked her.

"No, you stay here where it's safe." Shane said to Carl instantly who looked disappointed.

"Shane's right Carl, it's safer here and I'll be back in a few minutes." she said and smiled reassuringly at him.

o

Eilidh walked quickly towards the car that she'd been searching before the walkers came to retrieve the first aid kit she had found.

"Hey." A familiar voice that strangely caused her heart to flutter a little even though the tone was far from friendly came from behind her.

She slowed down and looked over her shoulder, Daryl was walking towards her with his crossbow in hand and a scowl on his face, "You're marching through here without bothering to look around you, there could be stray geeks." He growled at her.

The corner of her mouth lifted slightlyl as she said, "I can handle walkers but hey, it's nice to know that you're worried about me."

"I never said I was worried about you." he shot back immediately but she didn't answer him as she was now back at the car and collecting the first aid kit from where she had left it.

"That's it? You weren't kidding when you said it was small." He said as she handed it to him and then she headed back into the car for the gun she had saw.

"What are you looking for now girl?" he asked impatiently.

"I found a gun in here with a full box of ammo just before the walkers came through, Shane yanked me out before I could get it." She said as she leaned over the passenger seat, "Just you keep watch."

She thought she heard him say something like, 'don't be telling me to keep watch' as she stretched to get the gun.

"Almost got it." She said as she got a grip on the weapon but it was stuck under something, she thought about just getting out and going around to the other side to collect it but she was already in the car so she decided to keep at it, she stretched a bit further in and as she did she felt her top ride up her back a little and it caused a shiver to run down her spine.

She then suddenly heard a clatter come from outside of the car that caused her body to jolt and she banged her head off the bottom of the steering wheel, "Ow! Daryl! What happened?"

The panic in her voice was loud and clear for anyone to hear, if it was a walker then she was a goner because the way she was lying over the chairs had her exposed in a way that would make it difficult for her to fight off any potential threat.

"It's nothing…I banged into…...aw nothing." he muttered in response to her and she breathed a sigh of relief right before she got a grip of the gun.

Daryl was stood facing her once she had removed herself from the car and was back on her feet, she pulled her top back into place and then handed him the gun, he took it from her whilst he cleared his throat, she then leaned back into the open doorway of the car to collect the box of ammo from where it was.

"Looks brand new." He said to her as he examined it briefly and a proud smile appeared on her face knowing that she had found something useful but Daryl didn't return the smile, instead he rolled his eyes at her.

"Come on." He said and turned swiftly, she quickly followed him as he headed back in the direction of the group further down the road.

o

"Here you are." Eilidh said to Dale and handed him the first aid kit once she and Daryl were back at the RV.

"Thank you." Dale said to her and added the supplies from the kit she found to the one they already had, he then got to work on fixing up T-Dog.

Eilidh looked at Daryl briefly who looked bored standing beside her and then she turned to see Glenn and Shane walking towards them, Glenn looked over at T-Dog with a worried expression on his face and asked them both, "Is he alright?"

"For now he is, Dale is doing what he can with what we have." She told them both and then asked, "Has Rick come back yet?"

Shane shook his head and sighed, "I think we should go and look for him, he might need help...Daryl?"

Daryl only nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll go with you." Glenn said.

"Me too." Eilidh said after she looked around for Carl, she was satisfied when she saw that he was by his mothers side holding her hand.

"Sure about that? What if another." Daryl looked at her and said before he made an exaggerated gasping sound, "Happens?"

Eilidh glared at him before saying firmly, "That won't happen again."

"I'm serious. We are already going to look for one kid...don't wanna have to babysit another." he added with his own glare.

Eilidh felt her face redden with embarrassment at what he had said and an awkward silence suddenly fell upon them, she cast her eyes down briefly and then looked at Shane and Glenn who were both looking anywhere but at them before she turned her attention back to Daryl and said, "Don't worry about babysitting me old man, I can take care of myself."

The extra emphasis that she had added on the words 'old man' caused Glenn to make an amused sound and when Daryl's glare turned from Eilidh to him he shook his head and looked at his feet.

"Alright look y'all, it'll be getting dark soon so whoever is coming, we should head out now rather than later okay...I'll meet you in a minute." Shane said and then walked towards Carol where he spoke to her briefly.

Eilidh didn't wait for anyone, instead she jumped over the guardrail behind Glenn and the others and leaned against it with her arms folded tightly across her chest until they were ready to leave.

Daryl bringing up what happened in his truck and then calling her a kid had hit a nerve, she felt too annoyed to speak to anyone at that moment.

o

Eilidh, Glenn and Shane moved through the woods slowly and quietly behind Daryl who was following Rick's footprints that led them deep into the forest.

They had been pursuing the tracks for almost twenty minutes until a sudden rustling from the bushes ahead had them halt, they each instantly aimed their weapons ready to strike whatever would appear.

Rick was what appeared, he was out of breath, sweaty and dirty, being met by the weapons of his group members had him hold his hands up in defense.

Simultaneously the four lowered their weapons and Eilidh's heart instantly sank when she saw that he was alone.

Shane looked at him and was about to speak but Rick shook his head, "I can't find her, I left her by the creek and once I'd killed the walkers and went back she was gone, I told her where to go but-"

"I'll track her from there, just show me the way." Daryl said cutting him off from finishing and Rick nodded before he turned around.

"It's this way." he said to Daryl over his shoulder as he led them through the trees he had just come from, the others quickly followed them.

o

Once they had reached the creek, Daryl and Rick jumped into the water so Rick could show him the exact place where he had left Sophia.

"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked as he looked around for clues as to where she went from there.

"I left her right here…I drew the Walkers away from her in that direction up the creek." He replied and pointed the way he was talking about.

Eilidh, Glenn and Shane stood on the bank looking around the creek and keeping an eye open for any walkers creeping up on them, Daryl looked around the area some more.

"She was gone by the time I got back here, I figured she would head back to the highway." Rick said as he pointed at the trail, "I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."

Daryl moved towards the trail near where Eilidh and Glenn were stood to examine it more closely, he then looked up at Glenn and said with a flick of his hand, "Hey short round, why don't you step off to the other side there, you're mucking up the trail."

Glenn looked at Eilidh briefly before he moved, Daryl then glanced at her and said, "You too. Move."

She looked down at him in the water where he stood and raised a brow at him, "Would a please kill you?"

"Move your ass." he almost growled at her and she rolled her eyes before she stepped to the side.

Shane looked around the area and then shook his head, "It seams like she didn't quite grasp your instruction." He said to Rick in a slightly accusatory tone.

"Shane, she understood me fine!" Rick said back firmly.

"I dunno man, she gets tired and scared, she just had a close call with two walkers and that kinda makes me wonder of how much of what you said to her stuck." Shane replied and the the two men then stared at one another.

It was a tense moment that needed to be broken.

"Listen guys, this isn't the time to get worn out okay, it's getting dark…let's just concentrate on finding Sophia and not about what wasn't done or said." Eilidh said to them both and they looked from each other to her.

"There's a clear set of prints right here…she did what you said and headed back to the highway…we should spread ourselves around, look for her." Daryl said to them and whirled his hand, the attention of the two former police officers were now on him.

Eilidh walked over to the top of the bank and said, "Need a hand?" she then offered him her hand to help pull him out of the stream, he looked at it then at her and she nodded, he then grabbed it roughly causing her to gasp so she yanked him forward equally roughly, or rather she attempted to yank him forward, he had barely moved when she did it and she was positive that she saw a smirk appear on his lips but it had disappeared as he used her help to pull himself from the water.

He didn't thank her for the help he just brushed passed her as if she had gotten in his way and followed the trail, she turned quickly and followed him as he continued to track Sophia and she made sure to keep out of his way as he did it, she didn't want to step on Sophia's trail or get shouted at.

She stopped behind Daryl when he knelt down and stared closely at the ground, "She was doing just fine till right here…all she had to do was keep going but she veered off that way." He said and stood up as he pointed to the bushes nearby.

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked slightly anxious.

"Maybe something spooked her? A walker?" Eilidh suggested.

Daryl shook his head, "No, I don't see any other footprints…just hers."

Shane sighed as he looked down at the footprints, "So what do we do? All of us press on?"

Rick shook his head and said, "No it'll be better if you, Glenn and Eilidh head back up to the others, people are gonna start panicking...let them know that we're on her trail, we're doing everything we can but most of all keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep them busy scavenging the cars and I'll think up a few other chores, I'll keep them occupied." Shane said and nodded over his shoulder to Glenn and Eilidh, they followed him as he walked off.

"Good luck guys, be careful." Eilidh said over her shoulder to the two men who stayed behind as she walked.

"You got it." Rick said with a brief smile, she nodded and looked briefly at Daryl who was just staring at her before she turned and caught up with Glenn and Shane.


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

When Eilidh, Shane and Glenn arrived back at the highway Shane informed the group that Rick and Daryl were still looking for Sophia, Carol had let out a wail of anguish at the thought of her daughter still out there on her own, Lori took her in her arms and spoke softly in her ear but Carol just continued to cry.

Unable to watch the scene of a mother breaking down Eilidh turned and walked off, she felt bad that Rick hadn't found Sophia, she felt bad that they also hadn't found her when they went to look for her, she felt terrible that a child was somewhere in that forrest lost and scared.

She moved towards some of the cars that were near the RV and decided to keep herself busy by scavengig for more supplies.

Almost immediately she came across a car that had a couple of duffel bags that were full of clothes, men and womens, after scaning the bags briefly she decided that she would take them both because the group would need more clothes soon, they could sort through the bags at some point later to see exactly what they would need from them.

She put the straps of the duffel's on a shoulder each and headed slowly back towards the RV, she was surprised to find how heavy they both felt as she walked but she didn't have to endure if for long as Glenn caught sight of her as she neared the RV and he jogged the short distance towards her and took one of the bags from her.

"Thank you." She said with a sigh of relief that one shoulder was no longer feeling weighed down.

"No problem." He replied.

"What did you find, anything interesting?" she asked him as they arrived at the RV door which he opened for her and moved back to let her step inside first.

"Not really, some clothes like you and some garden tools, I thought they could be useful." He said with a shrug and she nodded in agreement.

They both put the bags Eilidh had found in the back of the RV next to T-Dog who was asleep, she looked at his bandaged up arm and she felt a shiver run through her as she thought of what his wound looked like underneath.

Glenn then started to leave the RV and she followed him, they headed back outside onto the highway where they found Shane and Andrea busy moving an SUV that was blocking the road whilst the others watched.

Carol walked upto the group that were standing around the RV and asked, "Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?"

Dale looked at her, "Well we have to clear enough room so that when the time comes I can turn the RV around as soon as it's running, now that we have enough fuel we can double back to the bypass that Glenn flagged on the map earlier."

"Going back is going to be a lot easier than trying to get through this mess." Shane said as he walked towards Dale and Carol.

"We're not going anywhere until my daughter gets back." Carol replied firmly.

Lori walked up and put a hand on Carol's arm, "That goes without saying."

"Rick and Daryl are on her trail Carol, don't worry." Eilidh said and offered her a smile.

"It's just a matter of time." Shane added after nodding in agreement with Eilidh.

Carol was at a loss for words, out of her mind with worry, she turned away from them, out of Lori's grasp and went to stand beside the guardrail once again, waiting for Rick and Daryl to come back with Sophia.

Andrea walked up to Glenn, Eilidh and Shane as Dale and Lori wandered away, she gave each of them a water bottle, "Hopefully it'll be soon, I'm still freaked out by that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it." She said as she opened the water bottle she had and took a drink from it.

Glenn looked around each of them, "Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that?"

"Herd? That sounds about right, now we've seen it, the night the camp got attacked was just a wandering pack, only fewer." Shane said.

The four looked at one another briefly before Shane put his head down and sighed, "Alright, come on guys break is over, we've still got lots to do."

o

Later on in the day the sun was finally starting to go down and darkness was quick approaching and Daryl and Rick still hadn't returned from searching for Sophia, this made everyone, especially Carol, nervous.  
Eilidh found herself worrying about Daryl more than she'd hoped or expected, she knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself but she still stood around biting her finger nails while she waited with everyone for him to come back, she stood by Glenn and watched as he and Dale contineud to fix the Winnebago together.  
"Has anyone checked on T-Dog lately, is he still asleep?" she asked, hoping it would distract her from thinking about Daryl and Rick.  
"Last time I checked he was." Dale told her and she nodded then looked over to see Andrea standing beside Carol, the poor woman had barely moved from that same spot the whole day, she just stood and stared into the trees, waiting.  
Lori and Carl appeared back at the RV with a little food and clothes in some boxes that they had found on their scavenging trip around the highway.  
"They'll find her right?" Glenn asked Dale and Eilidh quietly, "I mean…if they don't, how are we going to deal with that."  
"They'll find her." Eilidh said in as confident a tone as she could muster but the feeling of doubt was still in the back of her mind, "Daryl found her trail…but…I understand what you mean." She added with a sigh and looked at the ground.  
"Where is my gun?" They turned to see Andrea walk towards them, she was glaring at Dale who had turned around from what he was doing to face her.  
"You have no right to take it." she continued.  
"Oh man." Glenn whispered and he and Eilidh then turned around and stepped away to stand near a car beside the RV where they listened to the confrontation whilst acting like they weren't but it was hard not to with the volume Andrea was speaking at.  
Shane had slowly walked towards them both as their conversation got more and more heated, everyone watched as he tried to defuse the situation but Andrea wasn't backing down.  
"Poor Dale." Eilidh said.  
"Yeah…he was just trying to help her but all she has done is throw it back in his face." Glenn replied in a hushed voice.  
"She really needs to lay off of him and I don't see why she is so hyped up about that damn gun, she can't even shoot the thing." Eilidh said after shaking her head, she then leaned back against the car and watched along with the others as Andrea continued her little tantrum whilst also arguing with both Shane and Dale.  
Glenn shook his head and then moved away from Eilidh towards Lori who had disappeared and just come back carrying a heavy crate that she was struggling to carry, he took it from her and headed for the RV but he suddenly stopped and set the crate on the ground next to his feet then announced, "They're back!"  
Eilidh's head turned in the direction he was now heading and then everyone else including herself began to run over towards the guardrail as Rick walked up and climbed over it, Daryl was a few steps behind him and Elidh sighed the moment she saw him and instinctively put a hand on her chest at the relief she suddenly felt.  
Carol stepped back from where she was stood when she saw that Sophia wasn't with either of them, Lori gently grabbed onto her arm as she choked out, "You…you couldn't find her?"  
"Her trail went cold…we'll pick it up again at first light." Rick replied.  
"What? You can't just leave my daughter out there on her own, to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol sobbed and Lori wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  
Daryl spoke next and he sounded exhausted, "Looking in the dark is no good, we'd just be tripping over ourselves, more people would get lost."  
Carol's worry began to escalate, "But...but she's only twelve! She can't be out there on her own! You didn't find anything?"  
Rick put both his hands up, "I know that this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic, we know she was out there." he said as he tried to calm her down.  
"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added in a softer tone than usual.  
"We have to make this an organized effort, Daryl knows the woods better than anybody so I've asked him to oversee this." Rick continued.  
Carol sighed and looked away from Rick, her eyes landed on Daryl's trousers and they visibly widened, there was blood on them, her breath hitched as she asked whilst beginging to gasp for air, "Is that blood?"  
"We took down a Walker and there was no sign that it was anywhere near Sophia." Rick told her quickly and Carol stepped out of Lori's hold and began to pace around.  
"How did you know for sure?" Eilidh hadn't meant to ask that aloud, the question just popped out of her mouth, all eyes seamed to be on her and a quiet fell over them as they all waited to hear the answer.  
Rick looked down and then back at Daryl who looked over at Eilidh and said in a quiet voice, "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."  
Carol closed her eyes at the answer, Eilidh and Daryl glanced at each other for a short moment after that before she turned her head away to look at her feet.  
Carol seemed to be relieved at the thought of the walker that they killed had been nowhere near Sophia, only for a moment however, she then looked up at Rick and screwed up her face, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her!" She snapped at him and the question caused him to stagger, the guilt was evident on his face.  
"Carol...those Walkers were on us, I had to draw them off I had no other choice, it was our best chance." He said, his voice sounding as if it was close to breaking.  
"It sounds as if he didn't have a choice Carol." Shane said in Rick's defence.  
At Shane's words Carol's anger turned back to grief, "How is she supposed to find her way back to us on her own? She's just a child."  
Eilidh gradually stepped backwards until her back was against one of the abandoned cars, she couldn't bear hearing the conversation about poor Sophia being in the woods alone with walkers any longer, she looked down at her feet and tried to block out Carol's sobs.


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

Eilidh had a lot trouble sleeping that night, she couldn't fully drift off because her mind just wouldn't shut off, it was swimming with too many thoughts.

She had tossed and turned the whole night managing to close her eyes for around two hours at the most, poor Sophia was in the woods somewhere on her own, scared to death no doubt whilst herself and the group were all together moderately safe on the highway.

The sun had not long come up which indicated it was early morning and she knew that there was no chance she would fall asleep now so she sat up from the reclined passenger seat in the Winnebago and let the blanket she had covering her fall from her shoulders, she leaned her head on her hands on the dashboard briefly then sighed before she bent down to pull her boots onto her feet.

Once the laces of her boots were tied securely she grabbed her hat from where it sat on the seat beside her and put it on her head, she then leaned forward once more and picked up someone's hatchet which was on the floor before she stood up and headed for the door.

She stepped down from the RV steps and quietly closed the door behind her, she then stuck the hatchet in the side of her jeans before she walked away from the vehicle slowly and stopped just ahead of it.

It was a gorgeous morning and looking up at the calm, beautiful sky she had almost forgotten that the world around her had ended.

A quiet whistle came from behind her and she turned around, Shane was sitting on top of the RV on watch, he tipped his hat at her and said, "Morning."

"Morning." She replied.

"Early bird today." He stated.

"Aye…..didn't have that great of a sleep." She said and rubbed the back of her neck.

"That sucks." He replied and she shrugged a shoulder.

"Want me to take over? You can go and get a couple hours if you want." She offered but he shook his head.

"Nah I'm good thanks." He said, "Rick and I are taking a group out later to look for Sophia, you can come if you want or stay here with Dale and T-Dog."

"I'll go." She said immediately, "When do we leave?"

"ASAP." He told her and she nodded.

"I'm going to take a walk...up the road there." She told him a beat later and looked over her shoulder before she looked back up at him.

He looked from her to up the highway where she indicated with furrowed brows.

"It looks clear from what I can see." He said and looked back down at her, "But make sure to keep your eyes peeled."

"You don't need to tell me to be careful Shane." She said to which he frowned slightly and she let out a sigh.

"But I'll keep my eyes peeled." She continued and gave the hatchet on her hip a light tap, Shane nodded in agreement and then she turned and walked away.

o

As she walked cautiously up the road of the highway weaving in and out of abandoned cars Eilidh couldn't help but smile, the morning sun was lovely to look at and it was relatively quiet and calm, all that could be heard was her light footsteps and the birds tweeting in the nearby trees.

Her brief bliss was short-lived however because as quick as it came her smile vanished, the birds in the trees were twittering away as if nothing was wrong but there was something wrong, poor Sophia was somewhere in those trees, lost, she would be upset and scared out of her mind.

Eilidh stopped walking and looked at the ground, she felt ashamed for smiling and enjoying the morning, there was nothing to enjoy...all around her were abandonded cars, some were wrecked from crashing, some were black from burning, there were some with decaying bodies inside that still had their seatbelts on.

Shaking her head and inhaling deeply she looking up and began walking again only to freeze a second later as her eyes zeroed in on something just ahead of her.

In one of the open trunks of an abandoned vehicle was a suitcase with clothes hanging out of it and in amongst those clothes was a specific t-shirt in particular.

"Teddy." She whispered aloud and clutched at her chest.

o

 _The sound of the door to Eilidh's apartment being slammed woke her from the nap that she wasn't fully aware she was taking._

" _No I didn't." she found herself saying as her head shot up from where she was lying on the sofa and her brows slowly pulled together in confusion at what she had said._

 _She turned her head in the direction of the sound that woke her had come from, Teddy, her roommate was stood with his back against the front door._

" _Teddy?" she asked after a beat then she slowly pushed herself up to sitting position where she gave her eyes a rub, had a yawn and stretched out like some lazy cat, "You frightened the life out of me."_

 _After a beat passed by she leaned back on the sofa and looked over at Teddy, she found that he was still stood against the door and he was silent._

 _She looked him up and down with furrowed brows and noted for the first time how pale he looked and that he was sweaty and shaking like a leaf, she stood up from the sofa and immediately went to him._

" _Teddy what's wrong?" she asked him in a concerned voice and again he didn't respond to her which worried her even more._

" _Teddy." She said to him firmly whilst placing her hands on his face to turn his head so he was forced to look at her, "You look like you've seen a ghost."_

 _At her words his eyes darted to her own, they were wide and frantic which caused her to take a step back._

" _Are…are you okay?" she asked and then swallowed, her eyes scanned him and fixed on the splatters of red that were on his blue and white baseball t-shirt, "Is that…blood?"_

 _He said nothing, she then looked at his face once again and frowned, "Have you been in a fight?"_

 _He finally looked her in the eye and swallowed hard before he choked out, "I killed someone."_

 _At his words Eilidh stared at him, just stared, she stared at him for the longest moment that her eyes were beginning to sting from not blinking but even though that and her heartbeat picking up whilst her stomach was doing uncomfortable somersaults, she found herself grinning back at him, "Yeah…you have fists of steel right?"_

 _Teddy was always joking around about his strength and her head just assumed that he'd had a brawl with someone, knocked them out and was now thinking the worst about it, that's what he was like, act first and think second._

" _You're hard as nails!" She continued with a short shaky laugh and then swallowed the lump that was in her throat._

" _I'm serious." Teddy said loudly and his face confirmed that he wasn't joking around with her this time._

 _Her humour had already begun draining from her face as she processed what he was saying and what the voice in the back of her mind had been saying since he said those three words that she didn't want to believe._

" _I…I smashed his head in." he told her as his entire body trembled._

 _Eilidh's hands slowly rose to cover her mouth as she felt the air leave her lungs right before she whispered in a horrified voice, "You…what?"_

" _With my gun." He finished and held it up to show her robotically._

 _Her hands dropped to her sides and her eyes widened in shock as she took in the information, she had never seen or used a gun before, she'd seen them on television and in films and such but never had she seen one for real._

 _She didn't even know Teddy had a gun!_

" _I think...I need to sit down now." She said to him as she turned and headed for their sofa._

" _I had to Eilidh." Teddy said and she heard his footsteps following her but she turned and held her hand up to him to stop him coming any closer._

" _Don't." she told him and he halted._

" _I had to, he attacked me!" Teddy shouted at her and she was slightly taken aback, he had never raised his voice to her before but she shook her head._

" _Oh he attacked you? What…was he a drunk or something? Someone that was maybe desperate for some money?" she fired back at him and he began shaking his own head, "He was probably homeless or something, maybe he just wanted some food and you-" she continued but couldn't finish what she was saying, the thought of him using his gun to hit someone with, enough to end their life, it made her feel sick._

" _He wasn't a homeless or a drunk Eilidh…the guy was wearing a suit and it looked like a pretty damn expensive one at that." Teddy told her whilst pacing around the room, she could see that he was in a more agitated state now than before._

" _A guy in...what? A guy in a suit is who attacked you?" she asked him doubtfully, "Are you sure?"_

" _Yes! He was crazy…it was like he had rabies or something." Teddy told her and then he began biting at his nails._

" _So you just killed him?" she asked._

" _I didn't mean to Eilidh! Damn it! I tried to shove him away from me but he kept coming and then he tried to bite me and he wouldn't let me go so I just…I hit him…christ...I didn't even realise how hard it was until he was down and didn't get back up." he replied and then sat on the sofa next to her and put his head in his hands._

" _Fuck!" he then suddely shouted and banged his fist hard on the soft fabric of the sofa making it shake, Eilidh stiffened next to him and swallowed._

" _Did you say…that he tried to bite you?" she asked after a beat passed._

" _Yeah but he never, I pulled my arm out of the way." He answered with a frustrated sigh._

" _...it was...self defence." she said as she stared ahead and she saw him nod beside her out of the corner of her eye._

" _We've got to get out of here Eilidh, something is happening and-" he began to say but she turned to look at him wide eyed and cut him off._

" _No you can't go! You have to go to the police and tell them what happened, that it was...an accident, you didn't mean it, Teddy you can't run away from this." she said and placed her hands over her mouth._

" _What? No, I can't go to the police! It won't matter, it won't make a difference!" he said back and she stared at him too shocked to respond right away._

" _You...KILLED someone Teddy!" she shouted at him after eventually finding her voice._

 _His face then contorted with rage and he shot up from the sofa, knocking their small glass coffee table across the room as he did and it shattered loudly causing Eilidh to shriek, he then proceeded to grip her upper arms tightly and yank her up onto her feet infront of him, "Something is happening out there! There are soldiers everywhere!"_

 _Eilidh's eyes were wide with unshed tears as she listened to Teddy practically screaming in her face._

" _There were gunshots firing throughout the city and people screaming Eilidh." he told her, his tone had gone down a notch but he was still furious, a breif moment then passed before he spoke again and she felt him shake as he held onto her, "I know that I killed that man...you don't have to remind me of it...I can still taste the vomit in my mouth from after it happened...I won't ever forget what I did, for as long as I live I won't ever forget it."_

 _Eilidh stared at him as his anger slowly faded away and a sob escaped his throat, he let go of her arms and covered his face with his hands._

 _A tear rolled down Eilidh's cheek as she watched her friend cry infront of her, he made no sound but she saw his body shudder every now and again and she knew that he was deeply sorry for what he had done, she lifted her arms at one point to wrap them around him but she decided against it and dropped them to her sides, she then quickly wiped the tear from her cheek and asked,"You really think we should leave?"_

 _Teddy's hands slowly fell away from his face and then he straightened up to his full height and sniffed, his face was red and wet from his crying, he nodded his head and then said, "We have to...Ryan called me earlier and said that they were putting people in quarantine."_

" _What?" Eilidh asked in a quiet voice as the blood drained from her face, "The soldiers you mentioned?"_

 _He nodded and turned to head in the direction of their bedrooms, "Pack a bag."_

" _Pack a bag?" she asked him as he walked away and disappeared into his room, her voice was then quiet as she wondered aloud to herself, "I don't...leave? Why can't we just stay here."_

" _The city isn't safe." Teddy called out from inside his room and then he stuck his head out the doorway and held up a duffel bag, "I mean it Eilidh, come and get yourself packed...but make sure it's just the essentials."_

" _Teddy I…I don't understand, where are we going to go? This is madness! We don't even know for sure if anything is happening." Eilidh stammered from where she stood._

 _Teddy then all but marched from his room towards her, he stood infront of her and took a hold of her hands in his, "Something IS happening Eilidh…if we don't leave ourselves now then I'm worried that those soldiers will come for us...we aren't going into quarantine, I'm not letting that happen...now come on, please pack a bag, we're running out of time."_

 _His tone was soft but firm and she could tell from the look in his eyes he was scared but eventually she nodded and headed for her room to pack a bag all whilst her head was spinning with so many thoughts on what the hell was going on._

 ** _.O._**

 _Within ten minutes both Eilidh and Teddy were packed and ready to leave their apartment and he made sure they wasted no time as he ushered her out of the door with haste._

 _As they were making their way down the stairs that led to outside of the building Eilidh froze, she could hear the gunfire that Teddy mentioned and with it the screaming that he also mentioned._

 _She swallowed and tightened the hold she had on the strap of her bag just as Teddy overtook her, he jumped down the last few steps then turned to face her, "Come on we have to get to the car!"_

 _She nodded quickly and then continued on down the steps, once she reached him at the bottom Teddy took a hold of her arm and pushed the door open for them to step out, Eilidh immediately grabbed onto him and held on tight as he pulled her through the scene that was happening around them._

 _It was chaos, people were running around the streets screaming and there were cars speeding off, some crashing into each other or almost crashing, there was a car that lost control and crashed into a shop window which then caused a fire._

 _When she saw the car crash and the people inside it screaming for help Eilidh gasped out an,"Oh Christ."_

 _There were more people like the man who Teddy described that attacked him in the street too and they were chasing after people, they were grabbing them and to Eilidh's horror biting at any part of them that they got a hold of._

" _Keep moving Lee." Teddy said when she slowed down to look at those people and their victims as they let out loud, agonizing screams once they were caught._

 _She stopped completely and stared open mouthed at a man that was just more than a few feet away from them who had his face buried in a woman's neck as she clawed at his face and cried out in pain._

 _Teddy then pulled her forward roughly in the direction of his car with the hand he had attached to her and she dragged her eyes away from the man and focused on the car but then she looked back at him and immediately got chills when her eyes found him, the woman he had grabbed was limp in his arms with her eyes wide open._

 _These crazy people weren't rabid, they were something much, much worse._

 _One person began screaming, a blood curdling scream and Eilidh jumped at the sound and whipped her head around to look at where the scream was coming from, there was a woman being forced to the ground by three of the crazy people, they were each biting at different parts of her body and she was in visibly excruciating pain._

" _Eilidh…get to the car right now." Teddy commanded and she did just that and picked up the pace, she'd been too busy staring at the screaming woman to notice that there was another woman making her way towards them, she was covered in blood and muck, she had her arms outstretched ready to grab a hold of them and she was moaning._

 _Teddy pulled her along quickly with him away from the woman and they almost didn't make it to the car in time, the woman and several other of the crazy people were surrounding it and banging on the windows only seconds after they had gotten inside and pulled the doors closed._

" _Teddy!" Eilidh cried out terrified._

" _I know!" Teddy shouted back._

 _Now was definitely not the time for his car to not start, Eilidh moved her eyes away from Teddy's hand that was turning the key in the ignition and stared open mouthed up at the woman that was banging on her window, her mouth was black and dripping with blood, her skin was a dull grey colour, her eyes were white and there were chunks of flesh out of her arms, some that even exposed the bones!_

 _Eilidh covered her mouth as she felt her stomach churning and she glanced at the other people that were also banging on the windows, they all looked similar to the woman._

" _Come on!" Teddy roared at his car as he continued to try and get it to start._

 _Eilidh's hands fell away from her mouth as she leaned closer to the window, "The eyes." She said as she stared at the woman's face once more and then she leaned back quickly with a startled gasp as the woman slammed her palm against the outside of the window where her face had just been._

" _There are more of them coming!" Eilidh shouted to Teddy._

" _I'm trying!" he shouted back just as his engine sputtered to life, "Yes!"_

" _Go now!" she shouted as she slammed her hand on the dashboard and he floored it away from their apartment._

" _What the fuck?! God! Those people are not rabid! Rabid would be good right now." Eilidh shouted lifting her feet up onto the chair and holding the sides of her head as she groaned._

" _Are you okay?" Teddy asked her after a brief silence._

" _No Teddy I'm bloody far from okay!" she shouted back at him through ragged breaths._

" _Okay that was a stupid question I get it but really…I need to know, are you okay? None of them got you did they?" he asked her._

 _She looked over to find him staring at her, his face was full of concern and she shook her head._

" _Where are we going?" she asked him as she glanced out of the front window._

" _Airport." He told her and she looked over at him._

" _The airport? Where are we going to get a plane to when all of this is going on? Don't you think other people will have had this same idea already?" she asked him, her voice desperate._

" _We'll get a plane okay." He told her matter-of-factly and even with his confident tone she still wasn't convinced._

 ** _.O._**

 _Teddy got them to the airport within fifteen minutes, he had drove like a madman whilst passing by people on the road who were begging for a ride._

" _Come on let's move." Teddy said as he jumped out of his car once they were parked, Eilidh followed him quickly._

 _The airport was chaotic, there were hundreds of people trying to get planes and the noise was deafening, all of the screens that they could see had either 'delayed' or 'cancelled' on them next to every flight._

" _This is crazy Teddy." Eilidh said loudly to be heard over the noise._

" _I know…come on." He replied and grabbed her hand then he began pulling her through the crowd to an information desk which, like every other, was closed._

" _Excuse me." he said to one of the women behind the counter._

" _I'm sorry sir, this desk is closed." She said to him whilst rushing around packing away papers and typing on her computer._

" _We want on that plane." He said to her._

" _Sir this desk is closed and that plane isn't going anywhere." She responded._

" _The plane to London. Put us on it." He told the woman firmly, ignoring what she had said._

 _Eilidh hadn't even realised the plane from this desk was to London._

" _We're closed." The woman said again._

" _Listen to me...I know that this plane is leaving here and I know that because you're putting your own details in that computer." He said to her, making her cheeks go pink a little._

" _Put us on it, please." He begged her._

 _Eilidh looked around, there were other people now heading curiously towards the desk they were at._

" _Teddy, there are people coming." She whispered to him and he looked back at the crowd heading their way._

" _Please…I'm begging you." he turned back and said to the woman._

" _I…I'm sorry I cant-" she began to say._

" _Please." Eilidh begged her, "Give us a chance, I bet there's plenty of room."_

 _She looked between them both, shook her head and looked down._

" _If you don't put us on that plane then I will stand on this desk and announce to everyone that this plane is leaving." he warned her in a low voice, Eilidh looked from him to the woman who looked like a fish as she opened and closed her mouth over and over again._

" _We were told all flights were to be grounded, if I let you on and someone finds out I...I could lose my job." she told them both in a hushed voice._

" _Your job is the last thing that you should be worrying about right now!" Teddy snapped back at her and Eilidh placed her hand on his back._

" _Hey, calm down." she whispered and glanced back at the approaching crowd._

" _Have you even seen what it's like in the city right now? Put us on the damn plane." Teddy said after a beat and his tone was menacing._

" _I…I-" the woman began to speak and then she sighed, "Give me your passports, quickly." She told them firmly._

 _Eilidh and Teddy quickly handed her their passports and she began frantically typing away on the computer after she'd scanned them and handed them back._

" _Come on! The captain said we have to go now or he is leaving without us!" the other woman behind the desk who had been talking on the phone said to the woman who was typing on the computer._

" _Shit!" the woman typing said as she stood up, "Open it and go, I'll be right behind you."_

 _The other woman did exactly that and opened the gate that led to the plane then she disappeared through it._

" _Hey, that gate is being opened!" Someone shouted from behind Eilidh and Teddy._

 _Eilidh looked over her shoulder and saw that there was a large crowd rushing their way towards the now opened gate to the plane._

" _Come on!" Teddy growled at Eilidh and grabbed her hand then began dragging her towards the gate._

 _The woman they had just been speaking to rushed away through the gate ahead of them and began to close it behind her._

" _No! what are you doing?! Let us through!" Teddy shouted at her and banged hard on the door._

" _I'm sorry I can't!" the woman's muffled voice shouted back to him through the door and then she started running away down the tunnel._

" _No! Come back!" Teddy roared as he banged on the door some more._

 _Eilidh watched the woman open mouthed as she kept running away and didn't look back, she had left them there._

" _No!" Teddy screamed as he slammed his fist once more against the solid door._

 _The crowd then appeared and started banging on the door too and Eilidh gasped as she was squashed against it._

" _Don't waste your time, she's gone, the bitch is gone!" Teddy told the men who were trying to open the door and he then pulled Eilidh free through the crowd._

 _Once they were out of the mass that was swarming the gate they had just been at he looked around for others that may be opening but there was none, all the desks were empty._

" _We're screwed." Teddy said as he ran a hand through his hair._

 _Gunshots suddenly started firing inside the airport._

" _What the hell?!" Teddy shouted and he and Eilidh along with everyone in the airport were ducking low.  
The military entered the airport shouting orders at everyone inside, a few people approached them and began asking what was going on but they were gunned down immediately._

 _A major panic then started, people were screaming in terror and began running off trying to get away but the military began firing on them._

" _Oh god." Eilidh sobbed as she saw a man and his young daughter attempting to run for the exit but they were fired on before they made it._

" _We've got to get out of here. Now." Teddy told her as he started to back away._

 _Eilidh nodded and allowed him to pull her with him as they made their escape from the airport, people continued screaming and more gunshots were being fired behind them as they ran off._

" _Over here!" Teddy shouted over the noise and led Eilidh towards an emergency exit, other people were also rushing to the same door as them and began causing jams._

" _Move!" Teddy shouted to people as he shoved them out the way, Eilidh looked back and saw the soldiers were making their way towards the exit they were trying to escape through and they started to fire once again, she then screamed when a man that was pushing into her dropped at her feet with a bullet hole in his temple._

" _Come on." Teddy said as he ducked her head and covered it with his arm, he then pulled her through the exit and into the night._

 _.O._

 _When they finally made it through the exit they were running for his car whilst the others that got out ran off in different directions, "What now Teddy?" Eilidh asked desperately as he removed his arm from her so she could run, "Where are we going to go now?"_

" _I…don't know." Teddy said as he breathed hard beside her._

" _We'll decide when we are in the car! Come on, we're almost there." she replied as she made a beeline for his vehicle._

" _I can't." Teddy said in a quiet voice from behind her and then he let out a groan, hearing that sound and the fact that she couldn't hear his footsteps following her anymore caused her to stop and she turned around._

 _He was stood a few feet away from her and he was clutching his side which was seeping with blood._

 _He had been shot._

 _Teddy had been shot!_


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 **The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.**

 _Hi guys! Wow it's been ages since I updated, I am so sorry it's been so long!_  
 _I had to get a new computer because my other one has missing keys and is old_ , _I was also working a lot through the summer and I am back at college now and I've had lots of work their to do also, I'll try my hardest to keep the updates coming when I am not at work or college, I hope all you lovely readers are still with me and the story.  
Thanks for being patient. :)_

* * *

 _Eilidh stared wide eyed at where Teddy's hand was placed, over the red liquid that was seeping through his shirt, she hadn't noticed that she had been holding her breath until she let out a desperate gasp for air as he took a step forward but_ _crumbled to the ground infront of her instead._

" _No." she said and then ran to him, "No!"_

 _She dropped down onto her knees beside him and put his arm around her neck where she then proceeded to try and support his weight against her to get him back back onto his feet but she couldn't do it._

" _I can't move you! Please help me, push yourself up and I'll pull!" she cried out in a hysterical voice as she tried once more to sit him up but he groaned in response and she instantly stopped._

 _He then closed his eyes and moved his hand away from his wound slightly, she frowned and quickly moved her hand to replace his._

 _He moaned when she touched him and his eyes shot open, he looked around for a second and then looked at her with tears forming._

" _Teddy." Eilidh said with a sniff as her own eyes began to fill up._

" _Eilidh." He managed to finally say back, his voice tight._

" _Oh Teddy." She replied and rubbed her free arm over her face quickly so she could see through the tears that were now falling._

" _Oops...right?" he said to her with a short laugh that caused him to splutter out a cough._

" _Oh no." she whispered once his coughing had stopped and she moved her hand to his mouth, she quickly wiped away the blood that had appeared with the sleeve of her top. "Come on." she said as she was wrapping her arm around his shoulders and keeping her other hand against his side, right before she tried once again to move him she said in a cracking voice, "We've got to get you to a hospital."_

" _No Eilidh, please don't, I can't move...I'm done." He groaned but she shook her head and then began grabbing at his duffel bag that was still across his body._

" _I have to get something to put on the wound." She said through sobs as she quickly unzipped the bag, she grabbed the first top she could find and pressed it to where he was shot firmly and he cried out loudly._

" _I'm so sorry!" She told him as she pressed some more, the top she was using to apply pressure was already stained with blood and so were both of her hands._

" _You've got to leave me and get yourself out of here Eilidh." Teddy said through painful gasps._

" _What? I'm not leaving you!" she replied horrified and blinked away the tears that were clouding her vision._

" _You have to! I can't be helped now…go." He said and winced._

" _Shut up Teddy!" she said through sobs._

 _He laughed at her words and more blood appeared when as he coughed again, Eilidh watched him helplessly as his body jolted with the coughs, her tears were making it impossible for her to see properly, she knew she couldn't do anything to help him and he was in a bad way._

" _You're going to be okay, we're going to get you away from here and to a hospital." She told him through sobs and clenched teeth as she applied her weight against his wound._

" _Eilidh…you need a...weapon...take…my gun." he barely got out._

" _Take your gun? No! I don't know how to use it…it's yours…YOU are going to use it." she whimpered._

" _I'm so sorry Eilidh…I told you that...I'd get you on a plane…...I never." He said, wincing again as he spoke._

" _Oh shush! Don't worry about that now, you just need to relax and don't talk okay, try and save your energy…I'm going to get you to the hospital." She said and whispered the last few words._

" _Eilidh." Teddy said firmly so she would look him in the eye, "I...am done…...I'm going."_

 _She seen a tear fall down his cheek and it made her weep even more,"No…Teddy you're not."_

" _It's alright." he said quietly and placed his hands over hers, he stroked her hands gently then pulled them away from his wound._

 _She tried to protest but he shook his head and eventually she allowed him to do it after he silently begged her with his eyes._

" _Listen, I know that...we've only know each other a short time." He began to say to her, "But…I mean it when I say...you're my best friend." He added in a whisper after a beat and in response she howled and placed her hands back on his wound._

" _I am not letting you die." She said sobbing hysterically, "You're going to live."_

" _I'm not though, we both know it." He told her in a sad voice._

" _Teddy…stop it please, don't…...give up!" she said and then shouted that last words in frustration._

" _I'm not giving up, I don't have a choice…I can see the light." He joked half heartedly._

" _Don't fuck around with me Theodore Jones!" she snapped at him which caused him to laugh again._

" _I'm gonna miss you Lee." He said and reached up to put a hand on her face, she closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly at his warm touch, he was still warm._

 _After a long moment she let her tears fall freely from her face as she knew deep down that he was right, there was no way she would be able to save him, she had no idea what she was doing and they were miles from any hospital._

" _Try and find Ryan." he said and she opened her eyes to look at him, "You'll be safe with him."_

" _Ryan? I don't-" she began to say but he spoke over her._

" _He told me he was going to collect his mom and little brother, he was planning to take them out of the city...they have family in Miami." he said quickly then gasped for air before he started to cough again._

 _She shook her head and touched his cheek gently as she wished she could ease the obvious suffering he was enduring._

" _If you hurry...you can find them and...get out of here." Teddy continued after inhaling a deep breath._

 _Eilidh shook her head and spoke through her sobs, "I can't just...I can't go to Miami...with Ryan, I don't know him and...everything I have is here...our apartment-"_

" _It's gone!" Teddy said loudly and wheezed, "...our apartment, it's no longer safe...you can't go back there, you seen those...people."_

" _It's all I have." she replied and looked down to hide her tears from him._

" _It's just a building." he said and coughed again,"You have what's important with you."_

 _His hand landed on her bag that was on the ground beside him with a heavy thud and his eyelids fluttered, she looked from his hand to his face and saw that his breathing was becoming shallow and just as panic began to build inside her his eyes slowly opened and she sighed in relief and sadness, sadness because she knew that he didn't have long._

" _Hey…I want you to…take these." He said as he tapped his chest, she watched as his hand moved slowly inside the top of his shirt where he then took his DogTags from around his neck, he held them as tightly as he could in his palm for a moment before he reached for her and put them into her hand._

 _She stared open mouthed at them lying there in her hand, his DogTags were extremely special to him because they had an inscription to his mother from his father from when he was at war._

 _He had told her of how in love his parents had been, how they'd had a great life together but they had both passed away, his father first and his mother less than a few years later, he'd said how his mother changed after his father passed...she hadn't been the same since._

" _You're the only person I can trust with them, to keep them safe." He chocked out._

 _She couldn't speak, she only managed to nod whilst biting her bottom lip and trying to make her tears subside._

" _They'll be safe with me." She whispered and put them around her own neck, he smiled and nodded his head slowly._

" _Man I'm starting to feel…..really sleepy." He said in a drowsy voice and closed his eyes._

" _I'm so sorry that I couldn't help you." she whispered and took a hold of his hand._

" _Don't be…you did everything that you could." He told her a beat later._

 _She put her other hand on her forehead briefly then ran it down passed her cheek to rest against the DogTags around her neck and then she breathed out, "Not nearly enough Teddy, this happened because...you were trying to get me out."_

 _He shook his head slowly and held her hand in his with his eyes still closed, "No...you be safe now Lee."_

 _Eilidh nodded her head and watched as his breathing started to become slower with each breath he took and even though she knew it was going to happen, when his chest stopped rising and falling a few moments later she still panicked._

" _Teddy?" she whispered but he was silent and still._

 _She stared at him lying infront of her soaked in his own blood, his mouth partly open with his hand still connected to her own._

 _She sat still where she was for a moment but only for a moment and then her body began to shudder as her grief consumed her, she leaned her forehead on Teddy's chest and began to cry freely without holding back._

 _Her wails echoed around the car park for a few moments before she quickly sat up on her knees and tried to get her breathing under control._

" _No…not you Teddy. No." she kept repeating over and over as she rocked back and forth beside his lifeless body._

 _More gunshots in and around the airport and people screaming that had been relatively distance were now loud and clear and they got her full attention on where she was, she inhaled a long breath before she looked at Teddy and then down at her red hands._

 _She whimpered and then slowly wiped her now shaking hands on a clean part of his shirt to try and get some off the blood off of them before she leaned forward and softly kissed his forehead._

" _I'm sorry Teddy...this is my fault." She said as she stood up onto quivering legs and covered her mouth, a cry escaped as she took in the sight of him lying there, "Oh god."_

 _More screaming coming from the emergency exit they had came from caught her attention, there were three crazy people attacking a woman and they were…they were eating her._

 _The blood instantly drained from Eilidh's face._

" _Christ." She said and frantically grabbed her duffel bag and slung it back over her shoulder._

 _She took another look at Teddy as she did and she noticed his gun sticking out the side of his bag, she leaned down and picked it up cautiously then cringed at the feeling of it in her hand, she had no idea how to use it._

 _More gunshots fired and they were louder this time, she jumped and her head snapped in the direction of the sound, the soldiers were outside now and one of them had noticed her, she gasped as he began firing his weapon at her._

" _Stop! Stop it!" she screamed desperately at him as she ducked for cover but he didn't, he kept firing at her and in doing so left her no choice but to fire back, she raised the weapon and quickly aimed it in his direction, it shook in her hands as she pulled the trigger._

 _She fired around five times before she actually managed to hit him and she gasped when she heard his loud groan before he fell to the ground._

 _She straightened herself up then looked at the gun in her hand with her mouth wide in disbelief, "What have I done?" she said and clasped a hand over her mouth._

 _She looked around frantically and saw Teddy's car keys lying beside him, she bent down and grabbed them before she clutched the DogTags around her neck, "I'll keep them safe Teddy." She said and began crying again, "I promise." She whispered through sobs as she turned and ran towards his car._

 _Once she was safely inside the vehicle she locked the doors and placed the key in the ignition, her hands still shaking as she did.  
She looked through the rear-view mirror, one last look at Teddy before she pressed her foot to the accelerator and sped away._

 _O_

Eilidh's eyes burned with hot tears as she stared at the identical shirt he'd worn that was inside the suitcase.

"Oh Teddy...I'm sorry I broke my promise." She whispered and closed her eyes then she put a hand on her bare neck and she stood that way for a while, right up until the memory of how she lost his chain in the city started to creep it's way back into her mind, a shudder ran through her at that and she quickly shook her head as if to somehow rid it from her thoughts.

"Morning Eilidh." Glenn's voice yawned from somewhere behind her, she jumped a little and then cursed herself for not hearing him coming, he could have been a walker!

She was grateful for his appearance though as he distracted her from remembering back too long, not that she could ever forget even though she wanted so much to do so.

She quickly wiped her tears away and said back without turning around, "Morning."

"What are you doing away up here?" he asked as he moved to stand beside her.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a stroll." She answered with a shrug.

"A stroll? Through here? This place gives me the creeps...I cant sleep either, I just can't stop thinking about Sophia, out there somewhere on her own." He replied with a sigh.

"Yeah...are you going on the search?" she asked.

"I am, are you?" he replied.

She nodded and before she turned around she took one last look at the shirt ahead of her inside the suitcase, "I'm heading back...you coming?"

"Yeah." he replied and they walked slowly back in the direction of the RV.

O

"Okay guys this is what we're going to do." Rick began to explain his plan after he'd looked around the group that had gathered around him and Shane near the RV.

Eilidh had appeared a few seconds before and folded her arms over her chest where she then waited for Rick to continue speaking, as she did her eye caught Daryl's where he was stood directly across from her and he was staring at her intently.

She waited a beat before she raised a brow at him questioningly and he responded to that by just continuing to stare at her for a moment longer until he eventually moved his eyes from her and over to where Rick stood.

"Everyone takes a weapon." Shane suddenly said to the group and gestured to the bunch of weapons that were laid out on the hood of one of the abandoned cars that they were stood around.

There weren't any firearms amongst them it was just handheld weapons like sickles, hatchets and machetes.

The group seamed to examine the weapons briefly before they each began to choose something, Eilidh however wasted to time and grabbed a hold of a large machete, she stared at the sharp blade appreciatively before she stepped back and gave it a light test swing at where she had just been standing.

Andrea made a loud scoffing sound as the weapons infront of her began to disappear then she said to Shane, "What the hell are we supposed to do with these? What about the guns?"

"We've been over that, Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying, we can't be having people pop off rounds every time a bush rustles." he replied to her.

"Guns are a last resort." Eilidh told Andrea matter of factly just as she was about to protest, Eilidh wasn't in any mood for listening to her whining, not today.

Shane nodded in agreement, "That's right, just say someone fires off while another herd is passing by, that's it, game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."

Andrea glared at Shane then looked over at Eilidh and said to her, "If that's the case then you'll be leaving your gun behind wont you? I know that it's in your pack."

Andrea had a triumphant look on her face, as if she had just revealed some big secret that Eilidh had been hiding from everyone, Eilidh had actually forgotten her gun was in her pack as she hadn't planned on using it, the first time she had fired a gun she wasted bullets because she didn't have a proper shot, she'd never make that mistake again.

The rest of the group were silent as they watched them both, Eilidh then waited a beat before she took her bag off her back and unzipped it.

"Well Andrea, I'd hate to be the reason for everyone receiving a headache as the result of another one of your tantrums so let's just deal with this right away." she said as she brought her gun out of her bag, "I'll gladly leave it behind...taking down moving walkers with a good swing is much easier and I wouldn't want to waist the bullets that we barely have anyway."

Once she had finished, Eilidh looked at Glenn who was resisting the urge to smirk along with Shane and even Daryl looked slightly amused, Andrea however was glaring at her.

"It's not wasting bullets if we're killing the bastards." the blonde snapped at her.

"God Andrea, will you give it a rest? We all understand that you have this really itchy trigger finger but like Shane already said...you'll just have to get over it." Eilidh shot back at her.

Andrea moved from where she was standing and took a step towards her but halted when Rick's voice said firmly, "That's enough! Andrea…back off. Daryl, Shane and I are carrying, end of."

After Rick had spoken Andrea stormed off in a huff and following that there was a very brief silence before Daryl spoke and broke it, "The plan is to take the creek bed up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side, the chances are the kid will be by that, it's her only landmark."

That was it, his words were short and to the point, he then made a move towards the area of the wood Sophia had run off in.

"Stay quiet, stay sharp, keep enough space between you but stay close to one other also." Rick said as they began to head in Daryl's direction.

Eilidh headed into the RV where she quickly grabbed another couple of water bottles, what was left of the small first aid kit she had found the day before and a sweater just incase they were still out searching when night fell, she put the items inside her backpack and left the vehicle, she put the pack on her back as she was stood just infront of the RV door and then she walked over to where Daryl was stood waiting for the group.

When she heard Andrea's voice she turned around and spotted her by the RV having another go at Dale about her gun, obviously nothing that anyone had just said about the weapons had gotten through to her at all.

Eilidh decided to bite her tongue from saying anything in Dale's defence as Andrea bit his head off some more, she was yelling at him that she had been the one who had saved his life when the CDC was about to blow up and not the other way around.

"God she is really pissing me off." Eilidh said as she turned to face Daryl who along with the rest of the group that were scattered around nearby were also listening, she frowned after noting for the first time the amusement that was on his face, "What?"

"Really let her have it about your gun didn't ya? Thought she was gonna take a swing at you." he said and she scoffed.

"Let her try." she told him in a no nonsense tone, "It's bloody maddening is it not, doesn't she realize that having a gun in her hand could get us all killed? I would think that it would be pretty clear."

"Yeah well, she'll learn eventually." He said and tightened his hold on his crossbow.

A few moments of everyone awkwardly watching the argument taking place passed by with Andrea's venomous tone rising in pitch before she stopped speaking.

Dale was speechless at whatever she had said to him and Eilidh sighed at the way he was looking at her.

Since her attack on Dale was now over, Andrea walked away from him and off past Daryl and Eilidh, giving Eilidh a dirty look as she did.

Eilidh stared at the back of her and fought the urge to hook her foot around her ankle and make her fall in the dirt.

The group then slowly began to follow her into the woods after saying their goodbyes to the others that were staying behind.

Daryl nudged Eilidh with his arm a beat later and nodded in the direction that the others had gone and she followed them.


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

Eilidh followed slowly behind Daryl with Glenn at her heels; along with the rest of the group they kept a close eye on their surroundings for any type of movement.

About 2 maybe even 3 miles Daryl followed the trail, venturing them further and further into the woods.

Eilidh's eyes glanced away from their guides back for just a second and she ended up banging into him when he stopped suddenly, she gasped silently and prepared herself for him to spin around and turn her to stone with his glare but he only held his arm out to stop her going any further.

A beat passed before he turned his head slightly and caught her eye, he pointed to a tent that was pitched up ahead of them then he crouched down, she nodded and copied his actions.

Rick quickly appeared next to Daryl, he signaled to the rest of the group do as the hunter was and put a finger to his mouth to remind them to keep quiet.

"Do you think there's a chance she could be in there?" Eilidh whispered to Daryl.

"She could be in there…could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl replied in a hushed voice as he stood up slowly and began to walk away from them towards the tent.

Shane came up behind Eilidh and brushed past her quickly as he and Rick followed Daryl who was gradually approaching the tiny camp-site, he had his crossbow prepared and ready to fire in one hand along with his knife in the other.

"Carol, wait here where it's safe." Eilidh whispered to Carol who had pushed her way to the front of the group to see what was happening and was about to rush after the men but upon hearing Eilidh's voice she stopped in her in her tracks.

"She might be in there though." Carol whispered back hopeful as she and Eilidh watched the three men enter the camp-site with their weapons at the ready, Eilidh rubbed her back briefly as if in some way to comfort her.

Daryl stopped Shane and Rick moving with a gesture from his hand and gripped onto his knife tightly.

It was a tense moment and everyone seamed to be holding their breath as they watched from afar.

Daryl and Rick shared a look before Ricked turned and whispered to Carol beside Eilidh, he waved her towards him and immediately she went to him, the group stayed where they were and watched as Rick took a hold of Carol's hand and said in a quiet voice, "Call out softly...if she's in there it should be your voice that she hears first."

Carol nodded quickly and then she quietly called out her daughters name.

Silence followed after Carol's voice and when she called out again there was unfortunately still no response.

Daryl waited a beat after that and then he took a hold of the tent zip and slowly pulled it up so it was halfway open.

Rick stepped in front of Carol and had his gun ready to fire as the men then moved forward, Daryl gave them both a nod which they returned before he pulled the tent doorway open some more.

All three drew back very quickly and had looks of disgust on their faces.

Rick stepped back from the tent and blew out a breath; Eilidh's breath caught in her throat at their reactions, whatever was inside was dead...she silently prayed that it wasn't Sophia, she watched as Daryl waited a moment, covered his nose and then entered the small tent.

"Daryl?" Carol whispered loudly as he disappeared inside the tent.

Lori walked up and past Eilidh towards Carol where she wrapped her arm around the woman in support.

Daryl eventually emerged a few moments later, he was alone and he looked at Carol and said, "It's not her."

Carol let out the breath she had obviously been holding and held onto Lori tightly who embraced her with a long relieved sigh.

Eilidh's eyes closed briefly at his words, thank god it wasn't Sophia, they still had a chance of finding her, Andrea bumping roughly into her shoulder as she passed by her brought her out of her thoughts, the blonde then glanced back over her shoulder at her as she stopped beside Lori and Carol and glared right before she asked, "What's in there?"

Eilidh decided to ignore what Andrea had done and looked at Daryl, he looked down as he put his crossbow on his shoulder then replied, "Some guy...did what Jenner said, 'opted out'...ain't that what he called it?"

After he spoke he looked over at Eilidh briefly and then he looked at Carol apologetically, her poor daughter was still out there somewhere and it all seamed too much for her in that moment, the possibility that Sophia could have been in that tent only to turn out not to be but instead still missing caused her to sob onto Lori's shoulder where she placed her head.

Everyone briefly watched in silence as Lori comforted her as her cries echoed throughout the wood.

Church bells in the distance could suddenly be heard and the group was now on alert, Rick looked around them all and then pointed ahead, everyone then took off running in the direction he had pointed as fast as they could.

Eilidh tried to keep her head up as she ran but after she stumbled over the uneven ground for a third time she kept a close eye on where she was putting her feet, she caught sight of Glenn passing by her in a sprint until he reached Rick's side up ahead right before she did.

After almost a few minutes had passed by everyone seamed to slow to a stop and each person was breathing rather heavily.

"Where is it coming from?" Eilidh asked the group after she took a few deep breaths.

"I think it's that way, I'm pretty sure." Rick said and pointed ahead of them again.

"Damn it's hard to tell out here." Shane said through quick breaths.

Carol looked over at Rick with wide eyes as she caught her breath, "If we hear them then maybe Sophia does!"

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe even calling for others." Glenn said as he looked around each of them.

Andrea walked towards Rick, "Or signalling that they found her?"

"She could be ringing them herself, come on!" Rick shouted as he ran off once more and everyone chased after the sound with him.

They each all ran quickly after Rick until a large church with a graveyard came into view at the edge of the wood beyond the bushes where they suddenly stopped.

The bells were still ringing but louder this time, as if they were coming from that church they were all looking at, Shane shook his head and said through ragged breaths what they were all obviously thinking, "That can't be it, there ain't no steeple...no bells."

Rick seamed to ignore what he said and sprinted off ahead of them and across the cemetery towards the church.

"Damn it Rick!" Eilidh heard Shane say under his breath before he ran after his former partner, everyone then followed suit and ran after the men but most of them struggled to keep up as they sprinted ahead towards the entrance.

Eilidh stopped at the windows once she had arrived and leaned against them to look inside, her chest rose and fell hard as she did, the windows were no good for looking through, she couldn't see a thing.

"This way." Daryl came up behind her and tapped her elbow then gestured to where Rick was heading, she stepped back from the window and she and him both followed Rick over towards and up the church steps with their weapons at the ready.

Rick checked with them both if they were ready and once he had confirmation he slowly pulled the doors open.

Eilidh looked around the inside briefly from where she was stood and she saw three figures, each were sat in a different row of the pews with their backs to the entrance.

She glanced from them to Rick where they shared a look with one another before she looked more closely at the people sitting down.

Their skin, at closer inspection, was rotten and broken...when they turned their heads to look at where Eilidh and the others were stood they stared...with white dead eyes and decayed teeth.

Walkers.

Slowly, the figures then began to rise from where they were sat, Rick along with Shane who had just appeared behind them prepared their machete's for use.

"Damn...walkers?" Glenn asked as he appeared behind Eilidh, he was out of breath from running, Daryl then stepped away from beside her and held his crossbow towards him, he also held his free hand out towards the machete Glenn was holding and they silently exchanged weapons before Daryl walked away from them.

The three men then took out a walker each without any trouble at all.

"Sophia!" Rick screamed desperately after he had killed his walker and then went on to search the rest of the church.

Eilidh looked around briefly then stepped back outside once more just as the rest of the group appeared breathless and sweating, they looked at her expectantly and she silently shook her head, Carol sighed heavily and turned away to look back at the woods they had just come from.

Eilidh walked down the steps slowly and jumped when she heard the bells start to ring once more and they were louder than ever this time, there was no doubt that they were coming from this church.

She moved forward quickly and looked around with everyone until she saw a box on the wall around the side of the building, she ran towards it and pulled it open.

It was a control box and she reached in and yanked the cord that was plugged in out.

She sighed once the bells abruptly stopped ringing and turned around slowly when she heard the footsteps of the group rushing towards her.

"It was on a timer." She told them in a defeated voice and the group all had similar looks of sadness on their faces that she did because it wasn't Sophia the bells were ringing for.

"I'm going to go inside for a bit." Carol said in a quiet voice a beat later and then she disappeared inside the church.

O

Eilidh stood under a tree that was a few yards away from the church and sipped some of her water, she couldn't bear to be inside there with Carol, the poor woman was sat in a pew sobbing her heart out and praying to god to let her daughter be okay, to let them find her; the whole situation actually made her think about her own mother for the first time in a long time.

Her grandparents were given full custody of her when she was just seven because the woman wasn't looking after her properly, she had started using drugs in her teens and Eilidh was born because of it.

All her life she'd felt nothing but anger towards her mum because of what she had saw and was subject to growing up in the tiny, dirty flat where they had lived.

The woman allowed all sorts of people to squat with them over the years as well as having more boyfriends than Eilidh could even count, the worst kind of boyfriends.

Her grandparents had tried to convince her to let Eilidh live with them ever since she was born but she wouldn't have it, she was too stubborn and proud to admit that she was incapable of being a parent so she made Eilidh suffer because of it.

They were an amazing couple, her grandparents, they had always taken care of their daughter and continued to do as best they could right up until their death where she hit the road the first chance she got, stating, she 'was done being held back from living her life because of them'.

She was immature, she had the mind of some silly teenager and she didn't give a damn about Eilidh or her siblings.

Sophia however was Carol's life; she was in the church utterly heartbroken praying for her little girl to be okay.

Eilidh didn't even know if her mum was alive, she hadn't seen her in five years, the day she had walked out leaving her children to fend for themselves, not that they ever needed her anyway because they all knew that she was just a useless waste of space.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Daryl making his way over towards her slowly, she extended her arm as he got closer to offer him a drink, he nodded and took the bottle from her.

"Another dead end." She said as he handed her the bottle back after a long drink and nodded.

"You gonna tell me what happened in my truck yesterday?" he asked her after a beat.

She looked at him and noted the look on his face told her he wanted answers and he wasn't going anywhere until he got them.

She stared at him for a moment and then eventually sighed, "It's stupid."

"What is?" he pressed in a casual yet 'I demand to know' sort of way and she looked away for a second then back at him.

"I had a dream that...that my brother and sister were...it just felt so real...they were walkers." She told him, swallowing on the last word and then she cleared her throat, she had been trying to forget the awful nightmare ever since she had it because every time she thought about it her breathing became erratic.

Daryl hadn't said a word and continued his silence after she had spoken, his expression was unreadable and she scratched the back of her neck before looking at her feet briefly to do anything rather than meet his gaze.

"Well…if they're anything like their sister." He finally said and gave her arm a light tap so she would look at him once more, "They'll be fine."

He turned his back on her after that and walked away, leaving her with nothing to say, was that a compliment? She really wasn't sure.

She watched him for a moment then looked over to the side of the church to see Rick and Shane having a discussion, she then saw the rest of the group heading towards the two men and decided to head over herself.

"Alright guys listen up, we want y'all to follow the creek bed back to the highway now." Shane informed the group after they had gathered around himself and Rick and then he focused his attention on Daryl, "Daryl, you're in charge, Rick and I are just gonna hang back to search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up?" Daryl asked.

"We'll catch up to you later." Rick replied.

"I want to stay too because I'm her friend." Carl suddenly announced to everyone.

Each person in the group looked at him and then his father looked at his mother who stared at her husband for a brief moment before she walked up to the boy and hugged him tightly, "You be careful, okay?"

Rick held his gun towards his wife when she had released their son from her embrace and said to her, "Take this, remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Lori replied with a firm shake of her head.

Daryl then pulled a gun out of the waistband of his trousers and handed it to her, "There's a spare."

Lori looked at the weapon briefly then took it from him, he then exchanged a nod with Rick before heading off towards the edge of the forest where they had emerged from to find the church earlier and each person in the group gradually followed him.

Eilidh waited and watched him go for a moment before she turned her head towards Rick, Shane and Carl.

"You guys be careful out here." She told the men and then looked directly at Carl to add, "Please."

Carl smiled at her and bobbed his head in a nod.

"Likewise." Shane said to her with a tip of his hat.

"Are you gonna take care of your dad and Shane?" she asked Carl with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll keep them safe." He shrugged a shoulder then replied with grin which caused the three adults to have a brief laugh.

"Alright then well, I'll be seeing you...good luck." She said before she walked off in the direction the group were headed.

O

After walking slowly for about a mile on their way back to the highway from the church Daryl decided to stop the group for a quick break, the heat was causing their walk to become even slower and almost all of them were fatigued, Carol especially, it would be surprising if she slept at all the night before.

"So this is it? The whole plan?" Carol herself asked as she sat down on a log, Eilidh looked over at her and noticed that she wasn't happy that they were heading back, that was obvious by the way she'd just spoken.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks through the woods when those things want to kill us...but I see you have a gun." Andrea said from where she was sat and then she looked over at Lori with a scowl.

"Please…not the gun thing again Andrea." Eilidh said with a long sigh and took off her cap to rub her forehead, "Will you change the bloody record? Does it really honestly matter who has a gun and who doesn't?"

"If I wanted your opinion I'd have asked for it….I believe I'd better defend myself with a gun than a knife." Andrea snapped back at her.

Eilidh rolled her eyes before she adjusted her hat back on her head and then said, "Defend yourself? Most of the time someone else has to save your ass for you, so tell me, what's the difference if you have a gun or not?"

Andrea stood up and took a step towards her then said, "Say that again."

Eilidh couldn't help but smile at the blonde's threat and she stepped forward herself.

"Enough! Both of you." Lori said loudly and stood up from her crouch, she halted Eilidh's movements and her tongue.

Andrea had a glare on her face that was aimed at Eilidh who was now looking at Lori.

"You want the gun? Take the damn thing! I'm sick of the looks that you're giving me." Lori said after she walked towards Andrea, she pulled the gun from her trousers and held it towards the blonde who looked from weapon and the woman holding it before she scoffed and grabbed it, Eilidh shook her head then walked back to where she had been stood before.

"All of you." Lori continued and her eyes moved from Andrea to Carol, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it but you have got to stop blaming Rick for this...I see it in your face every time that you look at him, once Sophia ran he did not hesitate did he? Not for a second!"

No one seamed to dare interrupt Lori as she spoke, her voice raised in pitch slightly to an angry whisper that was then directed at each of them as she looked around the group.

"I don't think any of us would have gone after her the same way that he did or had to make the decisions that he's had to make or would have done it any differently! Am I right? Would anybody huh? Ya'll blame him, but look at him, he's not perfect...now you think that you can do this alone, go on, go right ahead no one is stopping you!"

Everyone was silent still after she had finished, some were glancing between each other when the rest continued to watch her.

Andrea was the first to break that silence a beat later, she to everyone's surprise extended her arm towards Lori, handing the gun back to her, "We should keep moving."

Lori looked at the weapon for a moment before she stood up and took the gun from her, she then began walking off ahead of them past Daryl and along the trail.

Eilidh waited until the rest of the group had followed Lori before she was about to make a move herself, she hadn't noticed that Daryl had waited for her and when she looked at him he indicated with his head for her to go first and she did just that.

A faint gunshot echoed through the woods right at that moment and everyone stopped dead in their tracks.


	19. Chapter 19

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN** **NOTHING** **REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.**

 ** _The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself._**

* * *

Eilidh and the group had walked for over an hour searching around the creek area for Sophia before they headed back to the highway, Daryl had suggested it and Carol seamed very happy to be searching some more before they called it a day, they had already searched the area already and found nothing the day before but Daryl had said since there still was daylight and they weren't far from the highway it wouldn't hurt to have another look.

Eilidh stayed near the back of the group, she was infront of Lori who had stopped every so often and looked behind her.

She was worried about the shot they had all heard earlier, that was obvious, worried if it was her son, husband and Shane.

Eilidh herself was concerned, what if it did have anything to do with them, "Still worried about it?" she asked Lori as she had stopped yet again and was staring into the trees.

"Yes…it was a gunshot." She replied.

"We all heard it." Daryl had stopped and said from the front of the group once he realised the two women at the back were no longer moving with him and the others.

Lori stared ahead as if she hadn't heard him before turning to look back at him, "Why one? Just one shot?"

"Maybe they took down a Walker." he said with a shrug.

"Don't you patronize me, we all know that Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to take down _a single walke_ r or Shane for that matter, they would have dealt with it quietly." She snapped back at him.

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway, can't be running round these woods chasing echoes." Daryl replied as he stepped towards Lori.

"So what do we do?" Glenn asked him.

"Same as we've been doing...search for Sophia whilst we work our way back to the highway." Eilidh said and Daryl nodded in agreement with her.

"I'm sure that they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Andrea said to Lori and Carol.

Lori took one final look into the woods before she turned and slowly began walking on once more, the others began to follow her.

Carol and Andrea however were still stopped, Andrea was telling Carol that she was sorry for what she was going through.

"It's the thought of her out here by herself, it's the not knowing that's killing me, I keep hoping and praying she doesn't end up like Amy." Carol choked out with a shrug of her shoulders and then her mouth popped open when she noticed what she had said about Amy, she quickly apologized to Andrea with tears in her eyes.

Eilidh expected a different reaction from Andrea in response but she only shrugged and said, "It's okay, we're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

"I'll tell you what it's worth…not a damn thing, it's a waste of time all this hoping and praying." Daryl said to Carol after he walked towards the two woman, Carol looked around each of the group sadly at what he had said, each person seamed shocked at his words along with Eilidh who's mouth had parted slightly.

"We're gonna locate that little girl and she's gonna be just fine." he then finished confidently and looked back and forth between the women before he scoffed and then shook his head, "Am I the only one who's Zen around here? Good Lord."

Lori looked back at the others with a small smile as he walked off, Eilidh couldn't keep the grin from her face as she watched him go.

O

"We're gonna be losing light before too long." Daryl told the group as they stopped for another quick break some time later.

Eilidh sighed as she tightened her ponytail and then rested her hands on her hips, the heat wasn't nice at all, her t-shirt was stuck to her back with sweat.

"Let's head back." Lori said.

"Pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked, her voice was quiet with a hint of desperation.

"We'll find her tomorrow." Lori told her with a nod.

The group all agreed that it was now time to head back and Daryl whistled at them before he indicated to the trail that headed in the direction of the highway.

"Do you want some water?" Eilidh asked Glenn as she moved to his side and held the bottle towards him, they both slowed their pace down when he nodded and took a drink.

"Thank you." He said and handed the bottle back to her with a smile.

"No problem." She said and smiled back at him.

"Keep up!" Daryl then barked from infront of them, Eilidh frowned at his back but Glenn wasted no time in obeying the hunter and quickened his pace once more.

"How much further is it?" Lori asked from the back of the group.

Daryl looked around the area briefly then shrugged before saying, "Not much, another hundred yards maybe...as the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea mumbled with a sigh.

Eilidh let out a sigh and her pace slowed down considerably after she placed her foot on the ground the wrong way when they had come to an incline on the path, her feet were sore from being on them all day and the heat was horrible and sticky.

"What's up with you?" Daryl asked as he hung back slightly after the others overtook her.

"The heat." She said after a beat with another sigh, "And my feet have blisters."

"Not surprised…those boots look tiny." He said over his shoulder with a glance at her feet.

"The boots are fine." She replied immediately.

"So it's just your feet that are tiny then?" he asked and she was sure she seen a slight smirk on his face as he turned his head back to face the front again.

"My feet aren't small Dixon." She replied with a smile as she took a large step forward so she was walking now beside him and then she looked up at him.

"Yeah they are." He muttered with a frown.

Since when was Daryl Dixon even looking at her feet anyway?

"You should know that a size four to a five is normal for someone of my height." She told him.

"How can you be two different sizes?" he asked as he turned his head fully to look at her.

"Heels." she said in a tone that said 'obviously'.

"You have worn heels?" he asked with extra surprised emphasis on the word 'you'.

"I have…...why do you look so shocked?" she asked as her eyebrows pulled together.

"You just seam like the…hanging with the guys type of girl." He replied with a shrug.

"…..did you just call me a tomboy?" she looked at the trail infront of them once more before she asked a beat later, feeling more annoyed than she would have liked and she was positive that she saw his cheeks change colour ever so slightly but he looked away from her before she could have a proper look.

"No." he grumbled in reply just as a piercing scream through the woods caught their attention and instantly he took off running with the group hot on his heels.

"It's Andrea!" Glenn called out from up ahead and Eilidh noticed for the first time that the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

As much as she disliked Andrea she hoped they would manage to get to her in time, she wouldn't wish anyone a death to a walker.

The screaming got louder as they followed Daryl through the woods, they were all running as fast as they could to keep up with him.

The screaming suddenly stopped just as they approached Andrea, she was on the ground breathing heavy and whimpering, the walker that had attacked her was on the ground also a few feet away from her by a tree and standing next to Andrea was a large, beautiful horse with a woman about Eilidh's age maybe a year or two older sitting atop it with a baseball bat in her hand.

"Lori?! Lori Grimes?!" The woman asked Andrea and each of the other woman desperately.

"I'm Lori." Lori said staring up at the woman on the horse.

The woman shoved the baseball bat in a holster on the saddle and said, "Rick sent me! You have to come now!"

Lori's eyebrows raised at the sound of her husbands name and the others looked at her wide eyed.

"There's been an accident, Carl's been shot! He's still alive, but you have to come now! Rick needs you, please just come!" The woman on the horse said to Lori.

"Oh my god." Eilidh said and took a hold of Glenn's arm for support, he looked at her anxiously.

Carl had been shot?! The gunshot they had heard...it was Carl being shot!

Lori, even though she was clearly horror-struck at the woman's revelation didn't hesitate, she took her arms out of her backpack, dropped it and ran up to the horse.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know this girl! You can't get on that horse!" Daryl shouted as he followed Lori who climbed up onto the horse, she ignored him and held on tight to the woman where she was sat behind her.

"Rick said that you have others on the highway? That big traffic snarl?!" the woman on the horse asked Glenn who was staring open mouthed and captivated by her sudden appearance.

"That's right." Eilidh said when Glenn didn't answer.

"Back track to Fairburn road, two miles down, you'll see the mailbox, the names Green!" the woman continued and then she pulled the horse's rains in the opposite direction, kicked and rode off.

Everyone seamed to watch open mouthed as she rode off through the woods with Lori behind her until they disappeared.

Eilidh was the closest to the walker which had attacked Andrea so she was the first to hear its quiet moans from the ground as it came to, she backed away as its body twitched and pulled her knife from her belt ready to finish it off.

It sat up slowly and she raised her arm, Daryl however, got it first.

"Shut up." He growled and fired an arrow into its head and walked off.

Eilidh attached her knife back on her belt and looked at the others, she then walked up to the walker and pulled the arrow from it's head before she hurried after Daryl.

O

With a sigh Eilidh reached the top of the hill that led to the highway and then she hopped over the guardrail, she pulled her cap off and rubbed the sweat from her forehead.

Her heart was beating fast from the last part of their journey where she and the others had followed quickly after an angry Daryl.

"Your back,at last." Dale said as he walked towards her, "I was getting worried, it's nearly dark."

She took deep breaths and a quick drink of her water before delivering the bad news, "Carl's been shot." She told him sadly and his smile dropped.

Daryl appeared with the rest of the group just behind her, he'd hung back to help Carol up the hill.

"Shot? What do you mean shot?!" Dale asked in a desperate voice.

Glenn breathed hard as he climbed over the guardrail, "I don't know, all I know is this chick came out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

Daryl stepped over the rail and Dale looked over at him with a slightly accusatory look, "And you let her?"

"Get off my ass old man! Rick sent her, she knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl replied as he passed Dale and headed towards his motorcycle.

Andrea was the last to climb over the guardrail after Carol.

"And I heard screams, was that you?" Dale asked her concerned but she ignored him and walked towards the Winnebago.

Glenn looked over at Dale, "She got attacked by a Walker."

"Andrea, are you alright?" Dale asked more concerned than before.

She turned, stared at him and shook her head before she entered the RV, Eilidh and Glenn along with Carol just stood where they were and caught their breath.

Eilidh's blood was suddenly boiling where she sat because of the way Andrea had treated Dale, she had done so much whining about having to use knives instead of a gun yet she had screamed liked a lunatic instead of dealing with it, if she'd had a gun she would have just wasted bullets.

"So what do we do now?" Glenn asked beside her.

Yes, what now she thought.


End file.
